The Miami Lakes Town Council adopted a transportation improvement plan to incorporate the proposal into the town’s new Strategic Plan, as town officials are scrambling for solutions for the traffic problems on the town’s busiest roadways.
At the October 6 regular meeting, council members approved a resolution for the improvement plan that the town, county and state brain trust assembled at the Transportation Summit held in July, when they discussed mobility upgrades throughout the 6.5 square-mile town, and grants available to implement the program.
But a representative of The Graham Companies, which owns most of the land in Miami Lakes, also offered her recommendations to the transportation improvement plan.
Among other things, the proposal includes traffic signal priority at intersections utilizing technology or more police; improvement of pedestrian connections across N.W. 67 Avenue within Town Center; pedestrian infrastructure improvements to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities ACT requirements for pedestrian facilities throughout Miami Lakes; facilitate carpooling of trips for drop-off and pick-up of school children; connect the existing and future greenways on N.W. 170 Street and N.W. 67 Avenue via N.W. 169 Street.
Carol Wyllie of The Graham Companies commended the plan but said it overlooked other traffic problems on the east and west side of Miami Lakes.
She said at the Palmetto Expressway along N.W. 67 Avenue, the right turn lane near the fire station is “very” short and should be extended to help alleviate the traffic gridlock in the morning and afternoon.
“I do take it everyday and it’s frustrating when you get up there and want to turn right but you can’t because there is a car in the middle of the lane blocking your access to it,” she told council members at the meeting. “In the afternoon, the traffic is horrendous, it is backed up all the way by BankUnited. The right turn lane should be little bit longer and more people can move through.”
Wyllie said an extension of a right turn lane was originally designed in site plans for the fire station.
She then addressed the traffic along N.W. 82 Avenue south of Miami Lakes Drive, which also creates a traffic problem and safety hazard for people patronizing companies in the business park area.
Wyllie said the roadway is actually a half section line road that was originally designed for motorists to enter and exit the residential areas and business park.
Wyllie said the roadway is actually half a section line road that was originally designed for motorists to enter and exit the residential areas and business park. But when the guard gate was erected, the county eliminated access to the business park by not permitting, a left turn to Oak Lane, and instead, 100 cars each day turn right on N.W. 82 Avenue then make a left turn onto the road behind CVS to take a short cut through the Park Centre shopping center.
“The shopping center was not designed for that,” she said. “That center is already very busy in the morning and it’s really not a safe condition. In my opinion, N.W. 82 Avenue is the most under utilized road out there.”
Offering a solution, Wyllie said a left turn lane at the south end of Graham Dairy Lake would solve the problem.
“It would allow people in the business park to turn left where there’s not much traffic in the community,” she said. “I happen to live out there and the traffic is less at that time.”
In another area in the business park, Wyllie said a traffic light is needed at the main entrance near Miami Lakes Drive and N.W. 79 Court.
She said the traffic light east of the area should be synchronized to help motorists who are turning left to exit the facility without any problems.
Wyllie’s final traffic solution echoes a proposal the county designed years ago.
She said an exclusive right turn lane from the Palmetto feeder road onto the Palmetto Expressway is needed where motorists could alleviate traffic on Miami Lakes Drive.
Wyllie said the county didn’t proceed with the plan because it was too expensive to relocate several big pipes across the canal.
“It’s an opportunity to do it in the long term,” she said. “But don’t let it fall off the list of the things we would like to accomplish in the long term because it can make a big difference for those who work and live out there.”