‘Bayfront Parkway’ Project Envisions a Greener Biscayne, Feb 29 – March 5

By Tony Garcia On February 17, 2012 · 11 Comments

Imagine walking out of the Metromover station at Biscayne and East Flagler Street and stepping out onto a linear park that runs under the elevated tracks, and continues north between the travel lanes of Biscayne Boulevard. Parking lots replaced with park space where people are sitting, having coffee, or even doing their morning yoga routine.

Welcome to Bayfront Parkway! – the latest Tactical Urbanist intervention brought to you by The Street Plans Collaborative, in partnership with C3TS.

Great cities have great parks. What is left of our great downtown waterfront park (after take out the excessive number of buildings cluttering the landscape -read Museums, Bayside….etc) is underutilized by local residents; separated from area residents and businesses by FDOT’s 8 lane highway design for Bisycane Boulevard. What should be an easy five minute walk for folks living across the street is distored by excessively wide travel lanes, speeding motorists, and a few crosswalks to get to the park. What Bisycayne Boulevard needs is a road diet that reallocates car space, both in the form of travel lanes converted to on-street parking and parking lots converted to park space. This will not only provide a natural expansion of Bayfront Park – at a time of shrinking park budgets and ever growing needs for park space, it will also help traffic calm the street and bridge the distance between the park and the growing population of residents and businesses along Biscayne from I395 to SE 1 Street.

For five days Miamians will be able to get to experience what this space would be like if it were permanently converted into a park. From Tuesday February 29 to Sunday March 4, we will take over the parking lot between Flagler and NE 1 Street, and convert it into a grass covered park with moveable seating, food trucks, exercise equipment and more. There will be street performances throughout the five days, from spoken word to jazz shows, sponsored by Miami-Dade College. Our goal is simple – to activate this space as much as possible with the everyday activities of a typical park.

Please join us for your lunch hour, or stop by after work. We want to show you how great it will be – Bayfront Parkway!

Visit the project website at: http://bayfrontparkway.com/index.php for more information.

(If you have an activity that you want to use the space for – or want to know more about how you can be a part of it – contact Transit Miami.)

11 Responses to ‘Bayfront Parkway’ Project Envisions a Greener Biscayne, Feb 29 – March 5

R says:

February 17, 2012 at 3:38 pm

I love this idea. Good job everyone involved.
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Daniel says:

February 17, 2012 at 4:09 pm

This is one proposal that, while I see it as unlikely (of course what good idea would ever happen here?), does make sense. Even though Biscayne/US 1 is considered a signature thoroughfare in Miami, traffic on this section is not that bad. It backs up on Brickell Avenue and at 36th Street, but here it is not congested at all, and could easily sacrifice a lane without being unfair to cars.

However, the narrow and small areas beneathe the Metromover line are far from what I would call ideal park space. Come on. If anything, I would put quaint, street level retail type shops there with a well designed walkway on either side.
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Anonymous says:

February 18, 2012 at 10:21 am

Where would they relocate the parking spots that are currently there?
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John says:

February 18, 2012 at 10:32 am

Great idea! Isn’t this within the DDA’s long-term strategic plan for Biscayne? I recall reading that the Miami Parking Authority was looking into alternative sites to move the parking spots to transform the median into a permanent park. Anyone?
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Sabrina says:

February 21, 2012 at 10:09 pm

I work at Miami Dade College, right off of the proposed “parkway” area. I realize that anecdota =/= data, but in my experience as a daily driver and pedestrian in that area for the last five years, Daniel, I must politely disagree with you. Biscayne Boulevard in downtown, in my impression, is not only experiencing increased traffic but also increased numbers of cyclists and pedestrian for whom the area is unfriendly and dangerous. The speed limit is too high, the pedestrian crosswalks are too far apart, there is no bicycle lane, and virtually no enforcement on speeding or laws which require yielding to pedestrians. Add to that the high volume of semi trucks delivering to the Port of Miami and the number of cab drivers delivering cruisers to the port as well, and its a nightmare for pedestrians. A couple of years ago, I watched a student walking across the street, legally, with a walk sign, get slammed by a postal truck turning while the student was in the middle of the crossing. My colleagues are constantly telling me about past accidents around the College – a very pedestrian dense area. Something needs to be done to make the area more pedestrian friendly, and this is a start. It’s not a solution, but visible areas intended for people to use along the middle of the street will increase pedestrian traffic, force the city to reduce the speed limit, and, I believe, unconsciously motivate drivers to be more cautious.

A similar set up is found on Park Avenue, in Tallahassee, near the FSU campus, and incidentally, it’s also a gorgeous aesthetic contribution.
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Roger Van Klaas says:

February 22, 2012 at 11:19 am

More crosswalks, narrower car lanes, lower speed limit, bike lanes, and parallel parking.
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Tony Garcia says:

February 22, 2012 at 11:46 am

@Roger: Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.
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M says:

February 22, 2012 at 12:36 pm

Roger – can we add shade trees to that list?
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Stephney says:

February 23, 2012 at 7:41 am

Greenery is important every where. It enhance the beauty of surroundings.
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Patricia says:

March 2, 2012 at 2:11 pm

Okay this is great. However; we have to be realistic this Median entertainment is located between the US 1 where the cars go in a high speed limit and I doubt the county will change their limits. Because we have to think about the pedestrian that will be crossing the streets back and forth, even now this area of downtown there are more families living with kids and pets, at some point an accident could happen. My point is why can’t this be done in Bayfront Park, where there is more open space, and not to worry about the cars when they are going in high speed.

In the end I don’t think this should be permanently, yet if it should be, can you please locate this entertainment to Bayfront Park.
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Tony Garcia says:

March 4, 2012 at 9:32 am

Patricia: There are already residents crossing the street – we are making it safer for them to get to bayfront. The idea that the park would be more dangerous for them in the median is ridiculous. It is actually more safe to go to this park because you only have to cross four lanes of traffic and not eight, as you do normally to get to bayfront park. And the ‘entertainment’ is really irrelevant to the project – it is about using the median as a passive park – not a permanent entertainment venue.
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