Fairway Drive is already popular with dog walkers and runners and will soon become more accessible for cyclists.
The Town of Miami Lakes is planning to add bike lanes on either side of the nearly half-mile road between Miami Lakes Drive and Miami Lakeway North.
Ten years of planning began in 2016 when the town applied to the Florida Department of Transportation to expand the byway, Omar Santos, director of Public Works said during a Feb. 22 presentation held at Town Hall.
Seventy-five percent of the estimated $1.2 million project will be funded from a federal grant and 25 percent paid by the town, officials said.
“It was in 2019 that it was awarded and since then we have designed it and we are 30 percent completed in the design,” Santos said.
He expects to finish plans by the end of 2024, for construction to begin mid-2025 and a possible finish in Nov. 2026.
Among the plans: Sidewalk widths will stay at 5 feet; drive lanes will shrink from 12 feet to 10 feet; bike lanes will be 4 feet wide and two speed bumps will be installed on Fairway Drive between the driveways to the Cypress Village condominiums.
“[We] will not be able to put a buffer between the bike and travel lanes,” said Rafael Lagos of Marlin Engineering, who is overseeing design.
Ramps will be improved to make it easier for people who use wheelchairs or rely on canes to travel along the sidewalks.
In addition to Cypress Village, the affected communities are Loch Lomond West, Loch Isle, Loch Andrews and the Executive Apartments.