Public Input Meeting on Rickenbacker Causeway Master Plan

The Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works is holding a Public Input Meeting on the Master Plan for the Rickenbacker Causeway.

Monday, Oct 28th, 6:30 PM

Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive

The Grove’s incredible trees have been cited by many as the Commodore Trail’s central and unique feature. Most Friends agree. The plan’s preparation included a detailed tree survey and a recommended ‘palette’ of tree species that could be added to the existing canopy.

Proactively planting trees makes sense. This is the summary of recommended trees for the improved Commodore Trail Corridor that are thoughtfully selected for scale, resilience, and appropriateness for the existing tree palette of the Trail.

Additionally, the draft plan identifies innovative tree protection strategies and techniques that can be employed to maintain and improve the health of new and existing trees.

Independently, the Friends of the Commodore Trail co-sponsored with Dade Heritage Trust the Miami Canopy Coalition’s county-wide policy recommendations found here. The Friends plan to proactively implement these recommendations along the Trail’s corridor in a continuing program of tree stewardship.

During the five-years of the study timeframe (2017-2022), more than 3,000 motorized vehicle crashes occurred in the study area. Eight fatalities and 414 injury crashes were reported. Most crashes occurred at the Main Highway-Grand Avenue intersection or on South Bayshore at the intersections of 27th Ave, Darwin St, Aviation Ave, Kirk St and the entrance to Mercy Hospital.

A map identifies the locations of reported pedestrian and bicycle accidents.  Professional observers have stated that many more unreported accidents occur than are reported.

Analysis of a sample of runners and cyclists that track their exercise data identified areas of high use by those groups.

The devil is always in the details, so that might be a good place to start. Here’s a link to the baseline survey of the Corridor’s current property lines, roads, elevations, rocks and trees. It’s not absolutely everything, but it is the starting point for the engineers’ and designers’ later work. Maybe yours too…

The portion of the roadway from Monty’s to Mercy Hospital (aka “Segment three”) already has a design proposed by the County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW).  An extract of that plan’s draft drawings can be found here