TPO approves report on best practices for urban area construction projects

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The Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) on Oct. 22 approved a report on best practices in construction projects in the urban areas of Miami-Dade County. The report originated in the TPO’s Urban Mobility Task Force (UMTF), which is chaired by Commissioner Eileen Higgins, District 5.

For much of Commissioner Higgins’ time as a county commissioner, she has advocated for better construction practices in the urban areas of the county, where projects are not properly coordinated, cause damage to roadways and walkways, leave utility paint across our roads and sidewalks, and generally make our communities unsafe and undesirable places to walk or bike. This advocacy led TPO chair Oliver Gilbert to name Commissioner Higgins as chair of UMTF in 2019.

“When I became a commissioner, I saw firsthand the devastating impacts poorly planned construction projects can have on our neighborhoods, small businesses, and overall quality of life through the redevelopment of W. Flagler Street, which had disastrous effects in Little Havana,” Commissioner Higgins said. “I saw it again when 5G tore up streets in Downtown, Brickell, and Miami Beach. Urban centers are still neighborhoods filled with people who push their kids in strollers, bike to work, walk to the grocery store, and commute on foot to their jobs or to connect to public transit.”

In early 2019, the UMTF directed TPO staff to conduct a study to identify strategies and policies to address key issues in construction project development and coordination between agencies, minimize impacts during roadway construction, and identify industry best practices, all through the lens of urban areas.

The report makes several key recommendations, such as creating a County Project Scoping Committee to streamline the project development process, a county facilities improvement website to serve as a one-stop shop for the design and construction of projects in county rights-of-way, coordinating construction schedules in a way that minimizes impacts to neighborhoods, and increasing community engagement opportunities. These recommendations go beyond urban areas and can provide improvements to all types of communities.

“I will propose legislation to ensure that these recommendations are implemented by the county, and I hope that FDOT, municipalities, utilities, and all other organizations involved in construction projects throughout the county can join us in this effort,” Commissioner Higgins said. “Construction and infrastructure projects should improve our quality of life, not subtract from it. But without better coordination, we are left with a mess of a process where agencies are in silos, failing to communicate, digging up our roads, repairing and then digging them up again.”


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