Miami Beach

Bureaucracy of Change

Miami Beach commissioners approved a plan for the Alton Road redesign that fell short of what many had hoped

By Ben Torter

After months of exhaustive debate between activists, city officials and state and county bureaucrats, the Miami Beach City Commission finally agreed Wednesday on a plan to modernize and upgrade Alton Road and its sidewalks between Fifth Street and Dade Boulevard.

The new design calls for wider sidewalks, shade trees, a reduction in the speed limit from 35 to 30 mph, narrower driving lanes and on-demand pedestrian crosswalk signals, among other features.

But that doesn’t mean commissioners will get what they recommended. Now, the traffic wonks at the Florida Department of Transportation must go back to their computer models and drawing boards to study what is safe and possible. The one thing that appears certain is that bike lanes are not part of the plan. Instead, bikers will have to share the wider sidewalks with pedestrians, much like they do now.

“The plan recommended … is the same Alton Road we have today,” said bike lane activist and design review board member Gabrielle Redfern. “Some define insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Commissioners tried to include bike lanes, but state engineers failed to provide them a safe plan that would work along the entire corridor. Rigid state and federal standards didn’t allow for much thought outside of the box.

Commissioner Ed Tobin suggested that each block of Alton Road be treated separately because some blocks have businesses, some have condos, others have homes and each has different on-street parking needs. A block-by-block analysis would be smart before deciding on a plan, he said.

“Once we have committed to a plan, the wheels of government will be turning and there will be no going back,” Tobin said.

Other commissioners agreed, but the idea was shot down by Bayo Coker, FDOT District Project Development Engineer, who explained that FDOT couldn’t proceed with any sort of study until the commission recommended an overall plan.

“The whole point is we have to establish a premise, and then use that premise to design the corridor,” Coker said.

The design and approval process is likely to take about two years, during which time the city commission to review and approve periodic updates. Construction isn’t scheduled to begin until 2013.

Residents expressed frustration at the bureaucratic nature of dealing with FDOT.

Miami Design Preservation League Executive Director Bill Farkas summed up the sentiment of those who want to see Alton Road become a model for a green-friendly thoroughfare, in a world where $5 for a gallon of gas could be a reality before construction even begins.

“Why are we designing a street now for these big Escalades and these big super SUVs?”

He then answered his own question when he said, “No one in Tallahassee, and no one in Washington is going to be sympathetic to changing the process.”

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com