On June 4, 2015, the City of Miami Beach Transportation Planner, Xavier Falconi, presented the new bicycle master plan to North Beach residents at the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel. At the meeting, residents were able to hear firsthand about the plan and make suggestions. In addition to working on this plan, the City is finalizing a transportation master plan to improve overall transportation issues.

“These two plans are being worked on separately but on two parallel tracks,” said Falconi, who has worked for the department for seven years. “These two plans are essentially becoming one and we have gotten positive feedback.”

North Beach section of the Atlantic Greenway Network. Courtesy of www.miamibeachfl.gov

Bicycle Master Plan Background

In 2007, the Miami Beach City Commission adopted the Atlantic Greenway Network (AGN) Master Plan also known as the Bike Master Plan. This master plan was focused on internal connectivity for bicycles by way of a continuous network of on-street bicycle facilities, shared-paths, Beachwalks, and Baywalks, and on creating connections between the City network and the County’s and State regional bicycle network.

As an outcome of the AGN Master Plan, the City has constructed over 15 miles of bicycle facilities (paths, lanes, etc) and has over seven more miles in construction and design stages. The AGN Master Plan was intended to be a dynamic plan that would be updated as the City evolves and transforms itself into a bicycle-friendly community.

Recently, the transportation sought to improve the AGN plan…“We used it [AGN] for numerous years and found it had some deficiencies with it,” Falconi said. “We found better ways it could be assembled and are improving old techniques being used in the plan.”

At a commission workshop in March, they discussed ways to improve the plan and established one key finding, which was that pedestrians were the number one mode of transportation in the City. Secondary to pedestrians, is mass transit, bicycle and freight transportation. The third mode of transportation being private vehicle. This helped establish priorities in organizing the master plan.

In May of 2014, they held a workshop, which served as an unofficial kick off, to discuss the bicycle master plan and addressed concerns over connectivity. In January of 2015, they held a second workshop to present the findings of what they had done so far to a warm reception.

“One of the highlights of the plan is a street design guide,” said Falconi. “The guide will help us as a City to address future projects. These treatments of ‘completed streets’ have been successful in different countries, and are starting to be used in South Florida.”

Current Projects

At the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel, Falconi highlighted some important issues that the plan would address.

1. 

   Green and Parking Protected Bicycle Lanes

   Green Bike Lane – To improve bicycle safety, the City hopes to paint all the bike lanes in green as a safety precaution. The color green has been approved federally and studies have shown that it helps reduce accidents involving cyclists. This project should be completed by the end of the summer and will be city wide.

2. Protected Bike Lanes on 72/73^rd street – Currently, there are two bike lanes, one is east bound on 72^nd Street and the other is west bound on 73^rd Street, which many North Beach cyclists have deemed unsafe. A “protected bike” is scheduled to be created on these streets and is meant to create a physical separation between the user and motor vehicle traffic either at the street level or the level of sidewalk. In this situation, the cyclist would be separated from motor traffic by on-street parking. By separating cyclists from motor traffic, protected bike lanes can offer a higher level of security than bike lanes and are attractive to a wider spectrum of the public.

During this portion of the presentation, concerned resident Kirk Pascual asked whether street plantings and parking would need to be sacrificed in order to achieve these plans. City Officials at the meeting stated that they were directed by Commission not to lose green space. They also stated that the design guide’s goal is to enhance streets, which would include greenery. However, there may be a chance that parking spaces would be lost and replaced at another location.

3. 

   Decorative bike racks found throughout Coconut Grove

   Bicycle Parking Spaces: Falconi hopes to install 150 bicycle racks all over the city between November and February of next year. Commissioner Malakoff has asked the department to look into decorative bike racks that are visible all over Coconut Grove.

Residents were overall pleased with the master plan. President of Urban Resource and member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel Daniel Veitia said, “When we were going over our marketing exercise to identify ‘what North Beach is?’…Bicycle, pedestrian and walkability were all words or issues that were brought up and were priority for North Beach. I’m glad we are talking about it. The desirability of living in a neighborhood, particularly a beach side neighborhood, is all about what you guys are engaged in and I’m happy were addressing it.”

Also of note and discussed at the Blue Ribbon meeting were certain transportation issues that were being investigated or studied by the department. The first issue being the east/west corridor on 71 st, which has had many fatalities. The City said they were engaging in studies to improve pedestrian safety there. Also, there was some debate to include better access to the park on Rue Granville, which consists of pedestrians having to cross three lanes of traffic to access the park. The City announced that protected cross walks would be coming soon.

Bicycle Master Plan Next Steps

On June 16, there was a community workshop where the transportation department received more feedback about the master plan from the community in commission chambers. They will take all these recommendations and draft a plan, which will be presented on July 8 and include a “project bank” or list projects vetted by commission. Depending on the feedback they receive, they will work through the month of August to present a final plan for commission adoption in September.

What are your thoughts on having more protected pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes? Would this change the way you travel?