At the May 4, 2022 City Commission meeting, Commissioner Steven Meiner referred this item to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee for discussion.
The intersection of Royal Palm Avenue and 46 Street is located within the Orchard Park neighborhood and currently operates as a four-leg, two-way stop sign controlled intersection. The eastbound and westbound approaches on 46 Street are controlled with stop signs while Royal Palm Avenue traffic does not stop. Both Royal Palm Avenue and 46 Street are classified as local roadways. The existing north-south crosswalks on the east and west legs of the intersection to cross 46 Street have been recently upgraded to high-emphasis crosswalks (Attachment 1).
The evaluation criteria for the installation of multi-way stop signs are outlined in the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The MUTCD specifies the minimum criteria that must be met prior to installation of a multi-way stop control at an intersection. The criteria are based on crashes and traffic volumes (vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles) at an intersection over various periods of time, including peak traffic periods.
In Miami-Dade County, the approval, implementation, and maintenance of traffic control devices is under the jurisdiction of Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works; however, to expedite the approval process, the City’s Transportation and Mobility Department staff conducts most of the warrant analyses for multi-way stop controls, pedestrian flashing beacons, and traffic signals in-house and works with the County to facilitate the installation, if the analysis concludes that the requested traffic control device meets the required criteria.
Over the past few years, the Transportation and Mobility Department has conducted three separate traffic studies to evaluate the need for all-way stops at the intersection of Royal Palm Avenue and 46 Street. In all three cases, the data and analyses have determined that an all-way stop is not warranted at this intersection.
In November 2021, Transportation and Mobility Department staff initiated the Orchard Park Neighborhood Traffic Calming Study. The study is proposing various traffic calming improvements in the vicinity of the Royal Palm Avenue and 46 Street intersection to enhance vehicular and pedestrian safety, as described in the Analysis section of this memorandum.