OLD BUSINESS  3.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

KEY INTENDED OUTCOME:
Ensure Comprehensive Mobility Addressing All Modes Throughout The City

HISTORY:

The intersection of 41^st Street and Alton Road is one of the principal intersections in the City of Miami Beach. This intersection serves as the gateway to the Middle-Beach Neighborhood from the I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway. At the May 16, 2018 City Commission meeting, at the request of Commissioner Gongora, the City Commission referred a discussion item to the Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee regarding the potential addition of an eastbound right turn lane at this intersection.

In 2016, the City of Miami Beach adopted its Transportation Master Plan.  One of the projects recommended in the Adopted Transportation Master Plan Project Bank is an eastbound auxiliary right turn lane from SR112/Julia Tuttle Causeway/Arthur Godfrey Road/41st Street off-ramp to southbound SR 907/Alton Road.  The project, as proposed in the Transportation Master Plan, is intended to serve as a "queue jumper" for buses traveling eastbound on the Julia Tuttle Causeway to be able to quickly make a right turn and travel southbound onto Alton Road, but would benefit all vehicular traffic making this movement.  The project scope entails reconstructing the existing eastbound shoulder of the Julia Tuttle Causeway off-ramp and constructing a new lane to provide additional capacity for motorists who wish to turn right (south) onto Alton Road.   

It is worth highlighting that this intersection is under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and, as such, any modifications to the existing intersection configuration must be reviewed and approved by FDOT.  

Currently, FDOT is working on an I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway Corridor Improvements Planning Study.  The City is a member of the Technical Steering Committee for the planning study.  The study scope includes a review of multimodal mobility along I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway and will make recommendations for safety and mobility improvements along the corridor, including a feasibility analysis of an off-road shared-use path along the corridor to serve pedestrians and bicyclists and increase safety and connectivity.  The study limits include the intersection of 41st Street/Alton Road.   The proposed off-road shared-use path was also identified as a priority project in the City's Transportation Master Plan. The FDOT Planning study is scheduled to be completed in August 2019; however, once the planning study is completed, FDOT expects to initiate a Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study which will likely require a couple years to complete.  Once the PD&E Study is completed, the design phase would be initated.  Based on typical FDOT timelines for these types of major projects on limited access Interstate Highway facilities requiring federal coordination, construction of the recommended improvements, contingent upon funding, would occur sometime between 2025 - 2030. 

Given the extended timeline of the FDOT I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway Corridor Improvements project, and the fact that the proposed eastbound right turn lane is a recommended improvement in the City's Adopted Transportation Master Plan, on June 5, 2018, the Transportation Department staff submitted a request to the FDOT District 6 Traffic Operations Office to conduct a feasibility analysis for the proposed reconstruction of the outside shoulder of I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway off-ramp and construction of a new dedicated right turn lane to facilitate motorists and buses who need to make a right turn and travel south onto Alton Road in advance of reaching the intersection.

ANALYSIS:

Pursuant to the request by the City, FDOT collected traffic counts on August 28, 2018 to determine the feasibility of the proposed right turn lane. In addition to traffic data, the FDOT consultant compiled crash data, gathered traffic signal data, performed qualitative analyses based on site inspections, and completed a Level of Service Analysis for the existing and proposed scenarios.

The counts collected by FDOT’s consultant showed that 73 vehicles turn right during the morning peak hour and 51 vehicles turn right during the afternoon peak hour at the intersection of 41^st Street and Alton Road. In comparison to all eastbound traffic at the intersection, the eastbound right turn movements account for only 5% and 3% of all eastbound traffic during the AM and PM peak hours, respectively. Based on the analysis, FDOT determined that the travel time savings to the eastbound approach with the addition of a dedicated right turn lane at Alton Road would only be four (4) seconds per vehicle during the morning peak hour and one (1) second per vehicle during the afternoon peak hour.

Based on the low eastbound right turn volumes at the intersection, qualitative assessment, and the expected marginal operational benefit to the intersection (i.e. low return on investment), FDOT did not recommend the implementation of an exclusive right turn lane for the eastbound approach at the intersection of Alton Road and 41^st Street. The City's Transportation Department staff conducted a thorough review of the data and analysis provided by FDOT and determined that the methodology, data, and results of the traffic analysis are accurate.

It is important to note that Miami-Dade County will also be evaluating the feasibility of an eastbound dedicated left turn lane on the right side of this intersection as part of the Beach Express North Bus Express Rapid Transit (BERT) Demonstration Project.  For purposes of the BERT, the additional lane would serve as a bus by-pass lane or "queue jumper" but could also potentially be used by other vehicles. The County will be initiating the BERT study in February 2019.

CONCLUSION:

Based on a traffic study conducted by FDOT, an exclusive eastbound right turn lane at the intersection of 41^st Street and Alton Road is not recommended by FDOT at this time. There will be another opportunity to re-evaluate a dedicated turn lane at this intersection as part of the County's Beach Express North BERT Study scheduled to begin in February 2019. 

The resutls of the FDOT traffic study are being presented to the NCAC for discussion.