This item is sponsored by Commissioner Steven Meiner and was referred to the Neighborhood and Quality of Life Committee by the City Commission on June 24, 2020.

The intersection of West Avenue and Dade Boulevard is a four-legged signalized intersection recently reconstructed as part of the City’s West Avenue Bridge project. The current configuration of the intersection was determined during the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study as a result of comprehensive traffic forecasting, trip assignment, and modeling. The PD&E study was approved by Miami-Dade County and the Federal Highway Administration in 2012. Prior to the bridge construction, the intersection was unsignalized with a southbound stop sign for West Avenue.

The north leg of the intersection currently consists of a single lane in each direction and on-street parallel parking on both sides. The north leg of the intersection is approximately 42 ft wide (including gutters) and consists of two (2) 12 ft wide travel lanes and two (2) 8.5 ft. wide parallel parking lanes. At the intersection, southbound motorists are permitted to turn left, right, or travel through from the single southbound lane.

Given that Dade Boulevard is a County roadway, the intersection is under the jurisdiction of Miami-Dade County.

The following warrant analysis is required to determine the need for and feasibility of a dedicated southbound left turn lane with a protected left turn arrow at the north leg of the intersection of West Avenue and Dade Boulevard:

• Geometric and Stopping Sight Distance Analysis
• Turning Movement Counts
• Vehicular, Pedestrian, and Bike Counts
• Traffic Modeling/Intersection Level of Service (with and without a dedicated left turn lane)

It is worth highlighting that West Avenue is designated as a bicycle corridor in the City’s adopted Transportation Master Plan; and the Transportation and Mobility Department is proposing to extend the existing West Avenue Bridge bicycle lanes north to 20 Street. As such, bicycle lanes must be included in the traffic analysis for a dedicated southbound left turn lane to ensure that both improvements can be accommodated within the existing intersection right-of-way.

Furthermore, given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on traffic volumes in the City, it is recommended that data collection be deferred until traffic conditions have normalized.