Cutler Bay residents can expect an improvement in their community next year that will affect both traffic issues and storm water drainage in an area prone to flooding when the Caribbean Boulevard Bridge Project gets underway.
Rafael Casals, interim town manager, stated that a preliminary briefing gave county officials and Cutler Bay residents an opportunity to meet for a special presentation with question and answer session on Nov, 5. The first Community Involvement Meeting was conducted in the council chambers at Town Hall in September to provide area residents and businesses with information related to the construction phase of this project.
“This is a county project, of course, but we made available to them a place where they could make a PowerPoint presentation to our residents to explain the stages of the project and what to expect,” Casals said.
The construction project will take place from approximately 100 feet west of SW 103rd Avenue to approximately 100 feet east of SW 103rd Place. It will completely replace the existing bridge over the C- 1N Canal with a longer, wider bridge that will provide a median, wider sidewalks with traffic barriers to separate pedestrians from vehicles, bicycle lanes, as well as resurfacing and new pavement marking and signage. The new bridge also will eliminate a bottleneck that slows water flow and will allow for future dredging of the canal.
Marcos R. Redondo, the project manager, attended the meeting and gave the presentation. Redondo is the section head of Bridge Engineering, Highway Division, of Miami-Dade Public Works and Waste Management Department.
The presentation stated that the project is needed because the existing bridge currently restricts the flow of the canal and the new bridge and wider canal section should alleviate flooding in the surrounding residential areas.
The project is considered critical to the South Florida Water Management District’s canal system. The project will be done in three stages and two lanes of traffic will be maintained during construction at all times. Sidewalk on one side of the bridge will be maintained at all times and all utility services will be maintained during construction.
“We don’t have any more public meetings scheduled before the start of construction,” said Gayle Love of Miami- Dade County Public Works. “If anyone has any questions about the project they may call my project hot line at 305-514- 6653.”
