In July 2015, the City of Miami Beach requested that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) evaluate a crosswalk at the intersection of Alton Road and 9th Street. At that time, FDOT was finalizing the Alton Road Reconstruction Project from 5th Street to N. Michigan Avenue and no accurate traffic data could be collected.
In April 2016, FDOT completed a traffic study to determine if the implementation of a pedestrian crosswalk at the intersection of Alton Road and 9th Street was warranted and feasible. According to the data collected, the average number of pedestrians in the peak four (4) hours was approximately 45. Based on the pedestrian data collected in the field, a crosswalk enhanced with a Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacon or Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (HAWK) was found to be warranted for this location; however, at that time, FDOT determined that the current geometric conditions could not accommodate a crosswalk.
The Alton Road and 9th Street intersection currently has a landscaped median island dividing north-south traffic. This median also serves to channelize northbound and southbound left turns to access 9th Street. In order to implement the proposed crosswalk, the southbound left turn would need to be removed, or at a minimum truncated to only serve the existing driveway, as this movement would be in direct conflict with the proposed crosswalk at the intersection. Based on the data collected as part of the FDOT study, the peak hour for the left turns was observed to be on Fridays between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM (48 southbound left turns). The removal of the left turn movement at Alton Road/9th Street would add less than one car per minute to the adjacent signalized intersections of Alton Road/8th Street and Alton Road/10th Street.
FDOT expressed that it would support the implementation of a crosswalk at Alton Road/9th Street as long as the existing southbound left turn lane was completely removed. The elimination of the existing left turn lane would not allow any access to the businesses in the northeast corner of the intersection (Attachment A).
As part of the coordination with FDOT, the City developed an alternative for this intersection that would reduce the impact to the adjacent businesses. The City’s alternative proposes to truncate the existing left turn lane at the entrance to the shopping center in the northeast corner such that left turns would be allowed at the driveway entrance but not at the intersection of Alton Road/9th Street (Attachment B). FDOT expressed concerns with the City’s alternative because it would allow vehicles to cut-through the shopping center to access 9th Street.
FDOT advised that they would fund the implementation of the alternative developed by its staff (i.e., the complete removal of the southbound left turn lane) and would not fund the implementation of the City’s alternative (i.e., partial removal of the southbound left turn lane). Based on preliminary estimates and recent meetings with FDOT, the cost to implement the City’s alternative would be approximately $500,000 and would need to be borne by the City. This cost includes all the site work related to the restoration of the surrounding areas.
Since the removal of the southbound left turn movement constitutes a modification to the current access management, the implementation of this project would need to follow the access management procedure outlined in the FDOT Plans Preparation Manual. This procedure requires that a public meeting be held prior to the implementation of the access management modifications. The City would assist FDOT with conducting the required public hearing.