Please place on the March 27, 2023 agenda a referral to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee to identify all legally available options to combat impacts of contractors obstructing traffic lanes in major traffic corridors of the City, particularly on State or County roads.

I have on prior occasions requested that the Administration address my concerns that contractors for FDOT and FPL and others are obstructing lanes of traffic on State or County roads during peak traffic hours. Notwithstanding, contractors are repeatedly ignoring approved Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) plans and obstructing roads, and our residents continue to suffer unnecessary traffic delays. 

I would like for the Administration and Committee to identify all options legally available to the City to prohibit contractors from obstructing traffic during peak periods.  Among the options that I would like the City Administration and the City Attorney’s Office to be prepared to discuss, are the following:

1. Increase penalties for obstructing right of ways, to the maximum extent permitted by law, including but not limited to, prohibiting the contractor from working on Miami Beach. 

2. Increased enforcement to issue citations to contractors obstructing right of ways and follow up with the agency doing the work, to ensure the agencies take action and terminate contractors that are contributing to this intolerable conduct in our City. We need enforcement documenting the problems and actually following up with the contractors to take corrective action. Without proper enforcement and accountability, contractors will continue to perform work during peak hours if it is convenient for them to do so. 
3. Explore the feasibility, in the longer term, for the City to take ownership of state and county roads located in our City.  I have often said that the City is in the best position to solve its problems when the City, and not a third-party agency, is in control. Here, a significant impediment to controlling hours of contractors’ operation is that the City lacks jurisdiction over permitting of contractors on state and county roads.