Three extensions of the Dolphin Expressway (SR 836) into West Kendall will be displayed by Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) staff at a “Public Kickoff Meeting,” on Thursday, Sept. 4, 6-9 p.m., at Miami Baptist Church, 14955 SW 88 St. (Kendall Drive).
The three-hour session will allow residents time to discuss proposed route alternatives informally with MDX engineers and administrators.
All three routes drop the Dolphin from its present location paralleling NW 12th Street to SW Eighth Street. Two proposals extend SR 836 west to Krome Ave. while a third turns the expressway south along SW 157th Avenue to 136th Street.
The initial concept completed by MDX in 2008 evaluated the new transportation corridor by extending the Dolphin south through West Kendall from its current terminus just north of SW Eighth Street at 137th Avenue to SW 136th Street in southwest Miami-Dade.
The corridor is designed for a limited access highway with transit services and bike paths along one of three projected routes paralleling the north side of SW Eighth Street.
Alternative 1 plans the highway southwest from SW 137th Avenue to an interchange at SW 157th Avenue, then west along SW Eighth Street to SW 177th Avenue before turning directly south to a point north of SW 120th Street.
Alternative 2 routes SR 836 from SW 137th Avenue to a point near SW 142nd Avenue at SW Eighth Street before continuing west to a point near SW 177th Avenue. Alternative 3 angles the road southwest from SW 137th Avenue to a SW 157th Avenue interchange but unlike its two predecessors, turns directly south, paralleling SW 157th Avenue before ending at SW 136th Street.
Interchanges are limited to major intersections at SW 40th Street (Bird Road), SW 88th Street (Kendall Drive), SW 104th Street (Killian Parkway) and SW 136th Street.
“The key is to design a cross section that relieves traffic…and provide a valid mobility option while limiting further western expansion of urban development,” the MDX report states.
District 11 Commissioner Juan C. Zapata has pushed strongly long-range expressway and possible rail expansion into the area as long-term growth potentials, not only to relieve commuter traffic, but to create a new focus for West Kendall as a “destination center.”
A 122-page preliminary study, including alternate routes extending west from its current terminus at SW 137th Avenue, is available on-line at www.mdxway.com listed under “Future Projects.”
