At the March 13, 2024 City Commission meeting, Commissioner David Suarez sponsored a referral item (C4 V) to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee (“PSNQLC” or “Committee”) to discuss a potential pilot program which would consist of a one-way conversion of Sheridan Avenue and Royal Palm Avenue from 37 Street to 44 Street, and the restriction of turning movements, particularly left turns, onto 41 Street (i.e. allowing north-south travel only) during weekday afternoon peak periods. The pilot is intended to facilitate northbound/southbound vehicular travel within the City of Miami Beach (“City”) rather than vehicular trips leaving the City via 41 Street during the weekday afternoon peak hours.  

State Road (“SR”) 112/41 Street is classified as a principal arterial under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation (“FDOT”). The corridor is located in Middle Beach and provides direct access to/from I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway, a limited access federal interstate facility, and SR A1A/Collins Avenue/Indian Creek Drive (also under FDOT’s jurisdiction).

The 41 Street corridor regularly experiences heavy traffic congestion during weekday afternoon peak hours and major special events in the City. Several factors contribute to daily recurring traffic congestion along the corridor, including increased volumes due to drivers avoiding major ongoing construction and choke points on I-395/MacArthur Causeway, closely spaced traffic signals, extensive school zones, high number of pedestrian crossings, and heavy side street traffic from the connecting north-south avenues which results in vehicles frequently blocking the intersections and creating gridlock in all directions. Based on the FDOT 2022 Level of Service (“LOS”) map, the 41 Street corridor is and has been operating at LOS F (failing) based on the annual average daily traffic and capacity of the roadway.

Pursuant to Sections 2-95 and 2-96.1 of the Miami-Dade County (“County”) Code, all traffic control and traffic engineering services in Miami-Dade County are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the County. Therefore, any modifications to the existing traffic flow will require review and approval from Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works (“DTPW”). Transportation and Mobility Department staff reached out to DTPW to determine the requirements for the implementation of a pilot program. Based on the feedback received from DTPW, the City must submit to DTPW a formal memorandum outlining the purpose, scope, methodology and limits of a pilot program, including data collection, implementation plan, community outreach strategy, measures of success, and post implementation evaluation criteria. DTPW would then review and evaluate the submittal for purposes of providing feedback and/or approval. The potential timeline to submit the required documentation and obtain DTPW approval is approximately ninety (90) days.

Community Charette

At the March 30, 2024 PSNQLC meeting, the Committee discussed the item and recommended that the Administration schedule a community charrette to obtain feedback on a potential pilot program and return to the June 5, 2024 PSNQLC meeting with an update.

Pursuant to the Committee’s recommendation, on May 7, 2024, the Administration conducted a hybrid community charrette to obtain community input on the potential pilot program. The community charrette was well-attended with 41 of participants attending in person and 73 participants attending virtually via Zoom. During the community charrette, the Administration presented two (2) potential options to the community (Attachment A). Both pilot options are intended to facilitate northbound-southbound vehicular traffic flow through the 41 Street intersections during the weekday afternoon peak hours of 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Option 1 will create a one-way pair with Sheridan Avenue (two travel lanes) operating in the northbound direction and Royal Palm Avenue (two travel lanes) operating in the southbound direction. No turns (left or right) onto 41 Street would be allowed from either Sheridan Avenue or Royal Palm Avenue during the pilot. This option will require Police resources to be deployed at the six (6) intersections affected along both avenues between 40 Street and 42 Street. On-street parking would be temporarily prohibited along the west side of Sheridan Avenue and the east side of Royal Palm Avenue during the pilot so that vehicles do not park facing the opposite direction of vehicular traffic flow. No northbound left turns will be permitted from Sheridan Avenue onto 40 Street during the Pilot Program. 

Option 2 will maintain the existing two-way traffic flow on Sheridan Avenue and Royal Palm Avenue. No left turns would be allowed onto 41 Street from Sheridan Avenue and Royal Palm Avenue during the pilot. This option will require Police resources to be deployed at two (2) intersections only (Sheridan Avenue and 41 Street and Royal Palm Avenue and 41 Street). In addition, this option does not affect on-street parking and reduces the impact to the neighborhood as compared to Option 1.

During the community charrette, most participants did not support a pilot program. Additionally, following the community charrette, the Administration conducted a two (2) week online survey from May 9 through May 23, 2024. The purpose of the survey was to obtain feedback from the community on the two (2) options for a potential pilot program. A total of 343 responses were received (Attachment B). Based on the general community feedback received, 34.69% of respondents supported Option 1; 34.11% of respondents supported Option 2; and 31.20% of respondents did not support the implementation of a pilot program.

Further discussions with DTPW are pending regarding the analysis and approvals required for the implementation of either Option 1 or Option 2 on a pilot basis.   

Tangentially, the Administration is exploring various strategies to manage the increased vehicular demand on 41 Street and on the north-south avenues connecting to 41 Street. Currently, the Transportation and Mobility Department will be evaluating the feasibility of creating dedicated turn lanes on the north-south avenues to more effectively facilitate turns onto 41 Street during peak periods as well as vehicles wishing to cross 41 Street and continue traveling northbound/southbound. The preliminary findings and recommendations of the traffic study are anticipated by end of 2024 and will be shared with the City Commission, once available.  FDOT and DTPW review and approval of the traffic study will be required. 

Furthermore, FDOT is currently conducting a comprehensive analysis to re-time the traffic signals along 41 Street to ensure signal coordination and vehicular traffic progression along the corridor. The FDOT study is anticipated to be completed by early 2025.