Road Improvements to NE 203rd St: The Biggest Local Issue You've Never Heard Of

A public workshop was held in Hallandale on April 21st, and though it was posted here on the blog, it didn't get much attention elsewhere, and it should have.

As noted in an earlier post about incorporation [here], NE 203rd Street (aka "Ives Dairy Road") is our community's artery, lifeline, and the "face" of our community in many ways.  Well, that "face" is going to be having some plastic surgery, and it could be much more than a nose job.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) cites a purpose of "Improving traffic operations and safety conditions at the intersections of NE 203rd street and/or NE 215th street, and the Florida East Coast Rail Corridor", noting that conflicts will increase due to expanding rail activity:

• Florida East Coast Railroad - 20 freight trains daily
• All Aboard Florida - 32 passenger trains daily
• Ti-Rail Coastal Link - 48 commuter trains daily

Oh, did you not know about 100 trains a day passing through our neighborhood?  For shame - you need to stop now and read the 1-year-old pulitzer-prize candidate (not really) post: http://westofaventura.blogspot.com/2014/04/trains.html

So (100 trains a day) + (an already apocalyptic traffic nightmare on Ives Dairy) = HELP!

So a process was initiated, and we just passed the step highlighted in orange in this picture:

The next step in the process is the Public Hearing, and that is scheduled for October 2015.  The study ends in December 2015.

3 concepts are being studied by FDOT:

1.   "No Build" - maintain existing configuration

This is the status-quo option, which looks like this:

2.  "Concept 1" - Northwest Quadrant Concept

This one would cost $25,000,000.  It looks like this:

As you can see, even $25M doesn't buy you any "A" grades for smooth traffic (the majority of "D" grades indicate a delay of greater than 35-55 seconds per vehicle).  FDOT says there would be a 54% improvement in AM rush hour, a 49% improvement in PM rush hour, and a 70% improvement on weekend traffic.

3.  "Concept 2" - Elevate Westbound NE 203rd Street, and lower US-1 to ground level

ICK! - according to the FDOT, those "F" grades represent a 17% greater delay in AM rush hour, and a 10% greater delay in PM rush hour (but on the weekend it is a 71% improvement, so not a total loss - all the weekend shoppers can rush home from the mall with minimal delay).

For NE 215th Street, there are no fewer than FIVE concepts:

 

I don't want to crash this blog by uploading all the pictures, but the alternatives and their projected impact are summarized in this table:

These changes will have a dramatic impact on our community, lifestyle, commuting and safety.  My hope is that the project will improve a terrible traffic situation, and earmark some funds to improve safety at the school crossings, where ignorant drivers (and moms on cell phones) endanger young pedestrians on a daily basis.  

Sign up to receive email updates on the project at http://www.fdotmiamidade.com/ne203-215pde 

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And send any questions or concerns about the project to fabiana.gonzalez@dot.state.fl.us