For all of you Coral Gables residents, there is going to be a meeting this evening to discuss proposed streetscape improvements to Miracle Mile. A group of urban planners, architects and city leaders will be on hand to listen to suggestions from the public, and discuss the possibilities for this great boulevard. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested to submit suggestions. (Hint, hint: Bike lanes are a possibility for this stretch, so please come out and show your support.)
Where: Omni Colonnade, Coral Gables
When: 6:30 pm
I hope they resist Carroll’s Jeweler’s request to keep the diagonal parking. A wider sidewalk that would allow sidewalk dining would be a big plus. What they really need to decide is what the actual vision for the street will be? Will it be a place where people drive up run into a store then drive away which would require meters rather than garages or will it be a place where people come to spend more than 1 hour at a time (garages and less need for metered parking)? I’ve never had a problem finding a metered spot in the area now and I never ever park on Miracle Mile (too hard to get out of the spots; you have to back up into traffic). Maybe people are just too lazy to walk a couple of blocks?
One more point to make in this disjointed post: garage parking (as opposed to on street meters) encourages longer stays by shoppers in the neighborhood which is something I would think merchants would want to encourage.
Get rid of the diagonal parking spaces, make them parallel spots and expand the sidewalks.
Would a couple block long bike lane really be that useful (unless of course they can continue it down coral way towards Miami)?
The idea with the bike lane is that short of a county wide bike lane accommodation program (very unlikely) the best shot we have is to go project by project trying to fit them in. Eventually we will have an interconnected network of safe bike routes. Picture one route from downtown Miami to downtown Gables via Coral Way - we are a step closer than we were six months ago. Not to mention bike lanes tend to slow motorists down, and that is exactly what we want along Miracle Mile.
I agree about the diagonal parking. Its day has come and gone.
Sidewalk cafes: awesome!!
Intelligent merchants will know that diagonal parking stalls allow for additional parking spaces over parallel parking, which helps turnover and sales. Let’s hope they don’t come out in force on this one…
Bicycle lanes on this stretch, in my opinion are not warranted, no matter what the end configuration. The character of the street, if parking is turned to parallel, already allows for slow travel speeds. I would take the additional five feet on each side of the street that a bicycle lane would eat up and make it sidewalk/cafe space. As a replacement to the bicycle lane, Sharrows should be used. They are the right tool in this situation.
Mike, I hope you aren’t suggesting that diagonal parking is ok for this pedestrian, downtown street? I think that the downtown area has changed a lot in the last few years and is much more reliant on park-once, or destination shoppers, as opposed to people who are driving around looking for parking. The area has a strong pedestrian community already, one that will grow even more with the widening of the sidewalk. Not to mention that there is an abundance of garage parking within a five minute walk, making the real loss for merchants nonexistent. (My family owns and operates one of the businesses on Miracle Mile and are not opposed to this).
About the bike lane: the ROW here is very large, and even with more narrow lanes and parallel parking there is more than enough room for sidewalk dining and a bike lane. As a resident of the area, I can’t tell you how hard it is to bike in the downtown area (and not fear for your life). Sharrows are great, but if you already have the room why not just make it a full on lane? This is a win-win for everyone, and is the logical next step for a neighborhood that has come a long way from the Miracle Mile of my youth - totally lifeless and dead of any pedestrian activity!
Tony,
Certainly I am not supporting diagonal parking. Again, diagonal parking is more efficient in terms of generating more on-street parking spaces. Merchants tend to support more parking, not less. That being said, yes when you take away diagonal parking stalls, the ROW would certainly supporting everything from more bike lanes, another travel lane or even a streetcar (gasp.) Would it be a bad thing if Miracle Mile had a bike lane? No, not at all. However, if the street is truly detailed to be more pedestrian/cafe friendly, a bicycle lane is not necessary as the design speed of the road and the context of its surroundings would, in my opinion, only require a sharrow type of solution. That way, you gain another ten feet for more pedestrian space, or if entirely reconfigured the potential for a street car.
It’s important to remember that bicycle lanes are not a one-size fits all solution to bike friendliness. There are other considerations design considerations to take into account as you well know. This situation is somewhat similar to the Design District where they want to ram a bicycle lane through the three ped-friendly blocks on NE 2nd, by expending the parallel parking on one side. This too is a mistake. Why not run the bicycle lane along the majority of the thoroughfare and then step down the facility to meet the pedestrian-friendly context of the DD. By taking away on-street parallel spaces, you are hurting business (studies show each spot can be worth hundreds of thousands a year, plus parked cars provide a buffer for the pedestrian. Do you see my logic? The sharrow provides a more fine-grained approach. Studies prove its a very safe solution.
Mike, I agree with you 100%. My support of bike lanes was more about the idea of accomodating bikes rather than the specific detailing of the lane. This is a recurring question we have in our office: are striped bike lanes necessary in an already pedestrian friendly environment? Some NU traffic engineers (who you probably know all too well) advocate for more separation, others will say it just isn’t necessary. I think, as you do, that there are appropriate places for each. My point originally was that it would be really cool to be able to say that you can bike from downtown Miami to downtown Gables (via bike lanes, sharrows, or any other combination of methods).
The team hired by the Business Improvement District includes Jamie Correa, Chuck Bohl & a cadre of other very talented architects and urban planners. We can hope that what results from this process is just what Miracle Mile needs.
If anyone has any comments about what was said at the meeting we would like to hear opinions.
PS. A streetcar in Coral Gables would be awesome.
Glad those guys are leading the charge. Indeed, we should keep our eyes on this one.
Cheers.
Mike
It’s time for the diagonal parking to go. I think there’s plenty of parking in the immediate Coral Gables area that are suffice for the area’s demands.
If on-street parking takes priority to moving of vehicles whether cars or bikes, then there are several roadways we will never see bike lanes on particularly Alton Rd. The Miami Beach commission has made it their demand to keep on street parking even though there is sufficient neighborhood parking around Alton Rd because they make a ton of money on those meters. So even though FDOT purpose is to move vehicles their purpose takes a back seat to parking.
On NE 2nd Ave there is a garage being built around the corner from the area you are mentioning. In this situation where you are building the longest continuous bike lane in the city of Miami, it would be a shame to downgrade it for 3 blocks to a sharrow, providing less safety than dedicated bike lanes do. I don’t think it should be considered ramming it down this area if anything it will make the street more pedestrian friendly than having double the onstreet parking. Considering how many people ride in this area, it makes sense to incorporate bike lanes.
Ugh! Its not about moving people, It’s about PLACEMAKING! If shops and restaurants don’t succeed, we don’t have good places. Simple as that.
It’s not a downgrade, do not think of it like that. It’s a contextual change, I see it as in upgrade in sophistication, one that provides the best of both worlds. Removing parking in a surface parking lot and converting to a more productive, street-activating use would be making it more pedestrian friendly, simply removing the parallel parking for the free-flow of vehicles most certainly does not.
With NE2nd Ave it’s about moving people as well as creating a place. That is one of the main arteries that goes from downtown to north miami. While the design district placemaking has occured on the sidestreets that are pedestrian friendly and have wide sidewalks, landscaping, nice decorative lighting, and outdoor dining. You do have sucessful shops and restaurants on the sidestreets and that is partially because of the character of the streets. These streets are not intended to move large numbers of cars, and that creates a comfortable environment for pedestrians.
Whereas NE 2nd Ave will create a main street feel for the area while still moving large numbers of cars, providing parking, bike lanes, and possibly a streetcar. This will make the place that you are talking about, and will encourage people to take another means of transit which I know your a proponent of, rather than looping around looking for on street parking to parallel park into on a major arterie.
As for sharrows, I do like the idea but I do see it as a downgrade in the sense that it is going from a designated bike lane to an undesignated bike lane. I see it more as an upgrade of competition, and is ideal for cyclists that are more sophisticated.
Emperor T, I understand your position, and think that our goals are aligned. We are not saying that sharrows are better or worse than bike lanes qualitatively speaking. They are two methods toward the goal creating a bike network (in the same way there are different types of roads for cars).
On-street parking is not the enemy of the cyclist. It is an important part successful urbanism. The benefit it provides to merchants and people on the sidewalk far outweigh the cost to cyclists, which is negligible. Bikes and cars need to share the road. This is about finding a balance between the two.
Yes ET, you are correct in that NE 2nd is a major north-south route, but it can still move everyone it needs to, while also slowing people down in the DD. It’s a place where for three blocks, bicyclists, and transit can share the space effectively with pedestrians. the other XX amount of blocks remain rather inhospitable, so why don’t we alter the typical response to deal with a special condition within the city of Miami?
Think of it almost like a woonerf, where there is no real truly designated assignments, but a more shared type of environment where all users have to be weary of the other. No on-street parking and bicycle lanes will encourage the opposite response.
Given the close, short blocks located along the Miracle Mile, I would suggest Sharrows as well. Traffic is fairly calm already along this stretch to begin with and I think the city should work to emphasize pedestrians as much as possible. Ideally, I’d even like to see the medians reduced somewhat in size too.
Clearly the diagonal parking has to go. I’m not sure how large the ROW is here, but even switching to parallel parking should add some considerable realty space to the sidewalks.
Didn’t a streetcar originally pass through here linking the two downtowns? Imagine what a great urban district we’d still have along Coral Way if this route still existed today!
I’ve always seen Coral Way as a potential gem Between the two downtowns. Unfortunately curb cuts and autocentric designs are causing a rapid deterioration east of the mile…
lol, Mike, we all “have to be weary of the other.” Isn’t that already the case?
I’m weary of all those motorists.
I know you meant “wary,” (though aware might have been a better choice) but that one cracked me up.
I agree with Mike, btw. I’m not familiar with the area, but if it is as you describe, encouraging bicyclists and motorists to share the space is good.
Bicycle lanes are good only to the extent that they keep motorists from getting slowed down, keeping them happier and less likely to harass bicyclists. They only offer a perceived safety benefit, not a real one. If we want to pull traffic speeds down near bicycle speeds, then it makes sense to let the two share the lane.
Yesterday I rode through two school zones on my way to and from jury duty. It’s wonderful riding in the middle of the lane going the same speed as the cars.
Here are all the scenerios being considered:
http://streetscape.shopcoralgables.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/streetscape-scenarios_complete-setr.pdf
Great to see all the activity and comments about Miracle Mile and Giralda Streetscape. Please note that the scenarios and presentation are actually at: http://streetscape.shopcoralgables.com/