Any commuter who travels Miami Lakes Drive or to Business Park West can testify to the knot of cars that jam the drive at Northwest 79th Court on weekday mornings.
Eastbound drivers determined to reach the Palmetto Expressway and those with destinations in the southwest part of town often clash at the intersection and block lanes.
A solution to drivers who won’t share the road? A new traffic light.
“That new light will free up our officer who, for the past four years, has been acting as a traffic control device in the mornings and can now respond to calls and accidents,” said Miami-Dade Police Maj. Jose Gonzalez.
“The officers are there to keep the intersection clear, allowing cars to come out of the side street,” he said. “The cars don’t stop, they block the intersection and it’s a dangerous intersection.
“The county did a study, removed our officers for a week and that’s all it took for them to see the need,” Gonzalez said.
Omar Santos, Miami Lakes’ public works director, described safety enhancements planned for motorists and pedestrians.
“It is construction of a new intersection and streetlight improvement, so they’re going to add new traffic signals, new pedestrian crossing, new pedestrian ramp [for wheelchair users and other people with disabilities] and new street lighting,” Santos said.
The tentative completion date for the county project is in May.