Miami Lakes has called for a comprehensive plan to resolve the long-running traffic congestion throughout the Town, which includes designating someone to attend traffic meetings of the two agencies working on solutions to ease residents’ frustrations over getting held up in gridlock for longer waiting periods during peak hours.
Town officials also want to make sure that a neighboring city, where a developer has plans for residential and possible commercial development, doesn’t propose an I-75 interchange at N.W. 170 and 154 streets despite an interlocal agreement not to do so.
What has been a pet peeve for residents since incorporation, the Town is seeking major traffic relief, especially with the addition of a new mega mall outside the town’s boundaries, 509 housing units along Miami Lakes Drive and N.W. 87 Avenue and Lennar Corporation’s plans for 484 homes west of I-75 in Hialeah.
Council members and Town staff met with the brain trust of FDOT and Miami-Dade County in a series of meetings and seminars over the past 10 months seeking some answers and possible solutions, but a break down in communications left Miami Lakes’ future uncertain.
Councilmember Tony Lama, who is spearheading the town's traffic initiative along with Councilmember Nelson Rodriguez, said no concrete plan in sight, the traffic would come to a complete standstill for hours.
“I want to make traffic our priority for the next 11 months,” Lama said at the February 2 regular meeting. “We need to make traffic a top priority and hold back on non critical business items and focus on traffic.”
Lama’s colleagues approved his proposals as the initial steps in an effort to alleviate traffic congestion in Miami Lakes.
They include Town staff collecting all the county’s and state’s plans for traffic relief for the Palmetto Expressway at N.W. 67 Avenue and at Miami Lakes Drive to be discussed at a workshop or town hall meeting; request that MDX and FDOT prioritize a solution for the west side of town, possibly a ramp for N.W. 87 Avenue and State Road 924; and the Town Manager designating someone to be the “point person” to attend the agencies’ meetings that focus on gridlock throughout the northwest Miami-Dade area.
“Not only would we have a seat at the table, but we would be very active in the conversations that are part of trying to find a solution,” Lama said.
Councilmember Ceasar Mestre said he marveled at a pair of FDOT drawings designed to reduce the traffic congestion on the town’s west side.
“I love the median there, but if we have to make a sacrifice, that maybe that’s an option,” Mestre said. “Reversible lanes is something to throw out there specifically and we need to get it done quick. We don’t have 10 years to wait.”
Miami-Dade County Commission Vice Chair Esteban Bovo Jr. told council members the county, including its Metropolitan Planning Organization, is aware of the traffic woes and hopes their suggestions contrive a concrete solution.
Bovo, who chairs the county’s Transportation and Mobility Committee, said there have been talks of placing a light rail that would connect motorists in the area of Medley to the new Mega Mall, and Hialeah’s traffic plans for more mobility could alleviate traffic on the west side of Miami Lakes.
Bovo quelled rumors of Hialeah opening up N.W. 170 and 154 streets to alleviate traffic with the new Mega Mall. “I have not seen any plans to entertain opening them up because of the Mega Mall,” he said.
“We are concerned about the transit in Northwest Miami-Dade, and it’s a challenge to figure out the best way to move people.”