Miami Today News is reporting that a new traffic circle will be placed at the problematic Brickell Bay Drive and South East 12th Street intersection. Lucky for every one that walks around Brickell the Sabadell Financial Center Landlord 1111 Brickell Office is investing $400,000 to insure the safety of the thousands of pedestrians that use this intersection every year. Maggie Kurtz, director of office brokerage for Cushman & Wakefield, which handles leasing for the Sabadell Center had this to say:
“It’s just natural, especially with all the apartment buildings and so forth, now that the Brickell is finally turning into a 24-7 city. The main goal is to make the intersection more pedestrian friendly.”
Wide intersection, with no traffic calming, makes it dangerous for pedestrians to cross.
Thank you Ms. Kurtz! You are spot-on. Thank you!
This is great, but sad at the same time. Why is it that this initiative had to come from the private sector? Why does the private sector have to invest their dollars to calm traffic on a City of Miami street to assure the public’s wellbeing?
This idea should have come from the city, as well as the money to build the traffic circle. Before anyone tells me that the city is broke and can’t afford to build it, let me just say “bullshit”.
Mayor Regalado found $1.7 million to illegally build a ten-foot concrete wall, which cut off pedestrian access to the Coral Way community of Coral Gate. If City can find money to essentially privatize a community, I’m sure our elected officials can find funds to insure the safety of everyone that works, lives, and plays on Brickell. Sounds like we have our priorities in the wrong place. The cost of this traffic circle is a drop in the bucket compared to the illegal wall that was built using our tax dollars.
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Roundabouts may slow traffic but they are terrible for pedestrians – especially in Miami as no one seems to know what those Yield signs are for…. try crossing 15th Road and South Miami Avenue, chances of survival are better crossing Brickell.
Enforcement is also necessary. There continues to be a concerted effort by the city to ignore the need for enforcement on Brickell. Traffic circles are great for calming traffic, inxpensive to maintain and can be great for pedestrians if yield to pedestrian laws were actually enforced. I wonder how many tickets have been issued to motorists in the last two years for failing to yield to pedestrians. Hmmm…. I bet not a single one.
The only circle I’m really familiar with is Sarnoff Circle in front of one of Marc Sarnoff’s primary residences and across from his dog park. There is very little traffic on the road, but when a car or two comes by pedestrians and their dogs really have to scramble. The cross walks are incongrous and nobody can figure out the signs.
I completely agree with you that the City should be paying for pedestrian safety rather than building walls, making the sidewalks pink, and planting trees everywhere. For example: when are we going to get crosswalks at bus stops that are not at intersections? Paint is awfully cheap!
The city could balance their budget by one afternoon of enforcement of yield to pedestrian violations. Easily.
Coral Gate Association is the worst. I’m a resident of the “Gate” and I’m sick of them lauding their closed-off, insular, walled neighborhood. They are proud of the fact that they persecuted neighbors by purging the houses that faced Douglas of the right to have day cares or home businesses. Many of them also terrorize fellow residents who have efficiency apartments in their homes, as if the single family ideal on barricaded streets was what made the neighborhood great. What makes it livable is its proximity to great urban environments like downtown Gables and Coral Way that offer everything it cannot: great shopping, streetlife, vibrancy.
The city of Miami has got to be the most horrible currupt and exploitative institution I have ever seen. They are more concerned about breaking up a community farmers market in the poorest part of the city than actually making anything better. The city is for uber rich “visitors” to own part time residences. People live here for the weather ro if they have to work. Very few people live here by choice to raise a family. Cultural deadzone and always will be.
I agree with most of what you said, but I have chosen to raise my family here because while it is a cultural deadzone when I look at it through my pessimistic prism, other days, I realize that it is an extremely culturally rich environment that my child could get it few other cities. We have friends from all countries of Latin America, most of Europe, Asia, and Africa. That’s why I hate things like the Coral Gate Wall. It is symbolic of places that one usually finds in extreme suburban sprawl, and is out of sync with the increasing cultural diversity of the neighborhood imprisoned within the street barricades. Shame on you Coral Gate. (By the way, the barricades may cut down on some cut through traffic, but they do not solve the speeding on the streets or the waves of crime which continue to plague our neighborhood. They DO hinder emergency response times such as police/fire/ambulance, though)
Miami Urbanist,
According to the County Public Works Department, the Wall must come down. You can read more about it here:
http://www.transitmiami.com/biscayne-boulevard/welcome-to-beautiful-belle-meade-county-public-works-department-says-%e2%80%9cno%e2%80%9d-to-gated-community
I hope so! Then maybe we’ll be able to walk to the businesses on 32 ave or coral gate park once again! Tear down the Wall!
Miami Urbanist you should write to your commissioner (and fellow Coral Gate neighbor)…..let him know how you feel.
Well said urbanist. There is hope. I error on te side of rant and frustration.
Miami Urbanist,
Get your neighbors (on both sides of the wall) which are Anti-Wall together and write a letter to your city commissioner, county commissiner and Ester Calas County PWD Director asking them to tear down the wall! You should inlist local businesses that have been negatively affected by the wall as well. We got your back. Keep us updated.
On a somewhat related thread what is going on with the Brickell construction from 14th to 8th. What a mess! No one can even cross with taking a daredevil leap over mud puddles and thank god it rained as the dust is unbearable. I have lived a few “big” cities and that mess is shameful in comparison to even the worst executed construction sites. Cops sit near 1800 block cross walk and ticket mopeds fr going 37 but watch the busses go by at 65 nearly killing anything close to them. Long way to go Miami and I don’t think you’ll get there without something major and horrible happening first.
Not to harsh on Latin culture but in Miami ther seems to be a strong desire for continuation of the 2 classedness seen in many lat am regions. The moneyed Latin families do like to have their maids and nannies still and also don want them living that close unless they live in and sleep in a closet in their houses. Service employees need respect in this country and paying low wage of cash for a nanny and a maid only amplifies the problem try try to block out with the wall.
Agreed, Brickell Resident. I moved an FDOT construction sign that was placed right in the middle of the sidewalk that said something like ‘ROAD CONSTRUCTION’. It forced people to walk into the street to get around it. It was just symbolic of the complete abscence of consideration to the neighbhorhood and residents the FDOT has in administering this project.
Felipe, I see where you’re coming from and I agree completely, the city should be responsible for this traffic circle and have foresight to have planned for pedestrians beforehand, but whether it’s the city or Sabadell, I think it’s great that they’re doing this.
If Sabadell wants to go ahead and improve conditions for pedestrians throughout Brickell, I’m all for it, because we know FDOT and the city are not doing anything for us. No bike lanes, no proper crosswalks, no working cross lights, and the list goes on, we all know it… -sigh-
Brock,
The list does go on and on…
I applaud the leasing agent’s initiative as well. I just hope that the city, the county, and the fdot don’t come to expect that improvements like this should become part of the private sector’s “social responsibility”. We pay taxes so that the public sector can insure our safety and welfare; this is clearly not happening around Brickell. I see zero initiative and very little money coming from the public sector. Unless, of course, you build a wall in order to pander votes from your base of constituents. $1.7 million could have purchased 4 traffic circles. The traffic calming impact of 4 traffic circles in and around Brickell would be felt immediately, making it much safer for everyone.
Of course, private sector involvement in urban planning can go the other way too. Who is to say that some other company would not want to pay money to fund a project that would be disastrous for pedestrians or cyclists? Like if they just wanted to make it easier for cars to get in and out of their garage or something similar? While this project obviously seems worthwhile, it makes a dangerous precedent that private companies can dictate what happens on a public street. The city needs to be more proactive. We all pay taxes and above all else, that tax money should go to projects that ensure the safety of the citizenry. This would be an appropriate project. Unlike that ridiculous wall.
Good point Craig. Quite frankly, I’m pleasantly surprised that an office tower in Brickell is actually helping improve pedestrian safety, instead of helping cars get in and out of their tower. If it’s this easy to build a roundabout, it could be just as easy to re-configure the road for the car, not the people.
Any update on the progress of this project? I haven’t seen anything happening first-hand.