|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Times change. Possibilities open up that we never thought would happen. So it is with the 87th Ave. bridge in Palmetto Bay. Last February, county commissioners approved the bridge to reduce commuting time in South Miami-Dade County by one minute. Palmetto Bay Village Council and many residents rose up against the bridge, because it would bring thousands of cars and trucks into quiet family neighborhoods with no outlet other than congested U.S.1 and gridlocked Old Cutler Road.
Last year, on the U.S. 1 Busway, county officials chose the Bus Rapid Transit over a Metrorail extension from Dadeland to Florida City. They said they didn’t have enough money for Metrorail. That was then; this is now. This month, the federal government passed a $1.4 trillion infrastructure bill, soon allocating the county hundreds of millions of dollars for public transit and infrastructure projects.
County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was invited to the signing ceremony for the bill at the White House. Speaking from Washington D.C. by zoom, she said, “We’ve got those projects lined up and ready to go, transit, we have aging bridges that need repairs, we’ve got broadband access issues, we’re going to continue our resilience programs, the solar installations, the electric charging, all of these are priorities within the bill and we are going to seize as much of it as we can possibly get” (NBCMiami, Nov. 15, 2021).
County officials had assured the public that the Bus Rapid Transit could easily be converted to Metrorail when there was enough money. Now there is enough money, thanks to Mayor Levine Cava’s advocacy.
What does all this have to do with the 87th Ave. bridge? The county’s priority, as stated in its Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit Plan, is to develop a public transit system and move people out of their cars. This is the exact opposite of the county’s plan to build the 87th Ave. bridge, which stimulates and encourages more driving.
Times have changed with the county’s clean air policy as well. Mayor Levine Cava was in Glasgow, Scotland a few weeks ago for the Climate Change Conference, where she announced to the world the county’s commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels. The county pledged this year in its Climate Action Strategy to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
According to the EPA, burning fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The EPA states, “Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation account for about 29 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest contributor of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.”
What does the county’s clean air policy have to do with the 87th Ave. bridge? The bridge completely contradicts the county’s stated goal of net zero emissions by 2050. A bridge encourages thousands more people to use their cars and trucks, which spew pollution into our air and heat up our climate.
It is time to pause for a moment of reflection and to put aside disputes over the 87th Ave. bridge and look at the bigger picture. Building the bridge runs contrary to the county’s signature policies of expanding public transit and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. A windfall of hundreds of millions of federal dollars is coming to the county for public transit, thanks to our hard-working and dedicated public officials.
Mayor Levine Cava and County Commissioners have an opportunity to seize the moment and implement genuine forward-thinking initiatives. Please be faithful to your farsighted policy commitments and put a stop to the disastrous 87th Ave. bridge that undermines them.
About Marsha Matson: Dr. Marsha Matson is a Council Member for District 3 of the Palmetto Bay Village Council. If you wish to contact her, feel free to reach her at 786-454-0075 or mmatson@palmettobay-fl.gov
