Articles

Stimulus funds could boost two South Florida highway projects

by Alfonso Chardy

Posted on March 08, 2009 – Miami Herald

In South Florida, federal stimulus dollars may soon be flowing throughtwo major highway projects that could benefit commuters in the long runand unemployed construction workers in the short run.

At least that'sthe hope of local officials who have steered the two projects -- one innorth Broward and the other in Northwest Miami-Dade -- to the top ofthe list for funding under the Obama administration's $787 billionstimulus package.

The two projects represent roughly half of theestimated $331 million in federal stimulus transportation money forSouth Florida.

In Broward, a $37 million four-lane flyover couldgenerate hundreds of jobs and add a missing piece to Dixie Highway,which narrows to two lanes and then abruptly ends just north ofHillsboro Boulevard -- near the spot where the overpass would rise.

InMiami-Dade, a $119.5 million segment of an elevated highway for truckscould generate thousands of jobs and thin congestion on Northwest 25thStreet west of the Palmetto Expressway -- an area clogged with truckshauling cargo from Miami International Airport.

Members oftransportation planning boards, known as Metropolitan PlanningOrganizations, in each county recommended that the balance of SouthFlorida stimulus allocations -- about $175 million -- go to transit andmunicipal projects including bridge and road repair.

Key transitprojects recommended include bus shelters in Broward and advancement inMiami-Dade of a long-planned extension of Metrorail to MIA.

Whileconstruction of any project is uncertain until the state Legislatureapproves the budget, projects recommended by the planning boardsreflect the wishes of elected officials including mayors, city andcounty commissioners.

When they met in separate special sessionsFeb. 20 in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, board members largely agreed torecommend that stimulus money go to select major projects rather thanmany small ones sought by cities, towns and villages.

Forexample, Fort Lauderdale sought money for bridges. But in a compromisethe Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization assigned the bulk of its$40 million for highways and bridges to the flyover and bus shelters.The Florida Department of Transportation estimates that the flyoverwould cost about $37 million.

It would rise from just south ofHillsboro Boulevard and run north over Northeast Second Street andrailroad tracks near the Hillsboro Canal, coming down just north of theBroward-Palm Beach County line.

Nadir Rodrigues, project managerfor the Florida Department of Transportation, said the flyover willcorrect a Dixie Highway alignment problem at that location.

Whendrivers on Dixie Highway reach the intersection of Northeast SecondStreet they have to stop because the road abruptly ends -- bothsouthbound and northbound. Drivers then have to zig-zag to rejoin theunconnected sections of Dixie Highway.

''Dixie Highway is a constrained facility between Hillsboro Boulevard and the Hillsboro Canal,'' said Rodrigues.

Thearea in Deerfield Beach where the flyover will be built is economicallydistressed, and city officials believe the overpass will draw commutersfrom Boca Raton to businesses on and around Hillsboro Boulevard.

''Wethank you for bringing us back to life,'' Mayor Sylvia Poitier ofDeerfield Beach told county and city commissioners when they voted forthe flyover Feb. 20. ``It's a project that will revive that stretch ofthe road. It's not an isolated road, but a major highway.''

InMiami-Dade, the idea is to ease chronic congestion on Northwest 25thStreet where trucks and passenger vehicles compete for the road everyday. Trucks use the east-west road to haul cargo from MIA to either thePalmetto Expressway or Doral warehouses.

In 2007, the FloridaDepartment of Transportation began building the elevated roadway fortrucks above Northwest 25th Street between MIA's cargo area and thePalmetto. Workers are now erecting massive support pillars for the roadon the north side of Northwest 25th Street.

The truck viaduct segment now under construction is scheduled to open in 2011 at a cost estimated at $117 million.

Attheir Feb. 20 meeting, Miami-Dade transportation board members weretold that the planned stretch of the viaduct from the Palmetto to Doralwas unfunded. As a result, they voted to recommend that the statetransportation agency spend the bulk of its $126 million in stimulusmoney on extending the viaduct to Doral.

Gus Pego, the agency'sdistrict chief in Miami, told Sally Heyman, a Miami-Dade CountyCommissioner and planning board member, that it would take about threeyears to complete the extension.

''It's good for the airport and it's good for the community,'' Pego said.

Afterthe meeting, Pego said he could not predict if the Doral phase of theviaduct will be built even after board members voted for the project.The reasons: Allocation of the $126 million in stimulus money is at thediscretion of the state transportation agency and the agency must waituntil the state Legislature includes the money in an approved budget.

WhenVice President Joe Biden visited Miami last week to promotetransportation stimulus money, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez went upto U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who was with Biden, andasked for federal help to finish the viaduct.

Miami-Dadetransportation board members also voted to allocate the bulk of $76million in transit stimulus money to advance a plan to extend Metrorailfrom the Earlington Heights station along the Airport Expressway to theMiami Intermodal Center -- a transit and rental car hub being builtjust east of MIA.

Biden visited the hub's construction siteThursday, accompanied by LaHood, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Miami-DadeMayor Alvarez and state transportation officials.

The countyultimately may be unable to use stimulus money for the extensionbecause of ''technical issues,'' but officials believe the project willeventually go forward. Cost is now estimated at $426.5 million,according to a document given Feb. 20 to Miami-Dade MetropolitanPlanning Organization members.

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