Miami Dade County Commission Chair Jose Pepe Diaz has proposed a resolution to the county Transportation, Mobility and Planning Committee to open the Northwest 154th Street bridge in Miami Lakes.
The bridge spans Interstate 75 and if opened, would connect the City of Hialeah to the Town of Miami Lakes, along the town's main thoroughfare. Diaz's district includes Hialeah.
The preliminary resolution is scheduled to be heard Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. in county commission chambers.
Two years ago, the town built a park at the end of Northwest 154th Street at Northwest 89th Avenue dedicated to a child who died from a rare brain cancer.
Miami Lakes' elected officials and residents do not want the bridge to open.
Albert Aguiar, a certified public accountant who administers the Miami Lakes Residents page on Facebook said Thursday, “It’s going to be worse traffic than we have already.”
Aguiar has lived in town since 1980. He and his wife are currently residents in the Lake Cynthia community.
“The traffic is impossible,” Aguiar said. “I know people who take 20 to 30 minutes to get to the Palmetto from [Northwest] 82nd Avenue,” a distance of six blocks.
“There are hundreds of homes on the other side of the bridge in Hialeah, it’s incredible,” Aguiar said. “I think most people in Miami Lakes are going to be very upset about this.”
Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid said Thursday in a text, “I am confident that [Miami-Dade] Commissioner Rene Garcia will defeat this myopic proposal.”
Garcia's district includes Miami Lakes.
Cid also said there is an interlocal agreement that keeps Northwest 154th Street closed at the bridge site.
“This [Board of County Commissioners] item would set a terrible precedent as interlocal agreements are protected by Florida law,” Cid said.
Residents in new developments along the west side of the interstate in Hialeah seek access to Miami Lakes’ byways to reach the Palmetto Expressway or schools or businesses in town. They have one way in and out of their neighborhoods: Northwest 97th Avenue, which runs between Northwest 138th Street and Northwest 170th Street, which also ends at a closed bridge.
That bridge is currently the subject of litigation between the county, Hialeah and Lennar Corporation and its contractor Downrite Engineering which seek to open it, and the town.
Diaz’s proposal asks the Florida Department of Transportation and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s office “to take all actions necessary” and to amend the current state legislative package and the county's wish list for 2023, too.
Diaz’s proposed resolution says in part, "... opening the bridge extending NW 154th Street over I-75 may minimize traffic congestion and improve the flow of traffic, benefiting the increasing numbers of people who reside and work in the area.”