In 2019, the City Commission approved the proposed concept plan recommended in the Chase Avenue and 34th Street from Alton Road to Prairie Avenue Pedestrian and Bicycle Feasibility Study, excluding landscaped trellis structures. Additionally, the City Commission approved pedestrian and bicycle improvements at the Alton Road and North Bay Road intersection as well as urgently needed traffic calming requested by members of the community.
The Chase Avenue and 34th Street shared-use path project location is on the north side of the Miami Beach Golf Club between Alton Road and Prairie Avenue and ultimately, this project will connect to a series of paths around the Miami Beach Golf Club. In 2019, the proposed plan consisted of a new 10-foot-wide shared- use path along the south side of Chase Avenue and 34th Street for bicyclists and pedestrians.
While the intent of the project is to provide connectivity between the proposed Alton Road shared-use path to the south and the existing green bicycle lanes on Prairie Avenue to the east, the reality is that the proposed project would lead bicyclists on a path to nowhere ending near the busy intersection of 34th Street and Prairie. There were positive components that were approved because of the project that are urgently needed in the neighborhood such as traffic calming. However, the lack of connectivity of bicycle pathway at its endpoint as well as the possible removal/replacement of mature foliage that defines the character of Chase Avenue should be further vetted and possibly reconsidered to prevent unintended consequences.
Therefore, I would like this memo placed on the July 20, 2022 agenda as a referral to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee to discuss and make possible recommendations.