Access from SW 128th Street to the Shula Expressway (SR 874) has been designated as a preferred route to relieve traffic congestion at the SW 152nd Street interchange on Florida’s Turpike and 104th Street interchange on SR 874.

Selection of the alternative “A” route along the SW 128th Street corridor was presented as the best among six reviewed by a Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX).

As now planned, the project would widen SW 128th Street from two to four lanes east of SW 137th Avenue with two-lane access and exiting ramps. The project also would provide a sixfoot wide sidewalk along the north side of SW 128th Street and a 10-foot shared use path on the south side.

Current estimate for right-of-way acquisition and construction stands at $112 million, according to MDX spokesperson Tere Garcia, who said, “potentially construction could start in the 2013-14 fiscal year and last up to two years.”

MDX currently is preparing its next Five-Year Work Program for approval in January, which would include funds to prepare a final design package and rightof- way budgets for the fiscal year starting July 2012.

She said that MDX will coordinate with planned turnpike construction improvements.

The plan was presented at a Dec. 8 public hearing, preceded by an earlier meeting on Sept. 27 when a public workshop began study of six alternative routes along SW 128th or SW 136th streets proposed.

Selection of the SW 128th Street corridor was based partly on a lesser impact to the adjoining Nixon Smiley Pineland Preserve than its counterpart, the Tamiami Complex Pineland Preserve bordering SW 136th Street, according to Robert Linares, project manager for Metric Engineering of Miami, consulting firm for two years at a cost of $1.1 million.

“The SW 136th Street alternative from the project concept study was moved to SW 128th Street due to the high impact that originally preferred route would have on the Tamiami Pineland site,” he noted, displaying a map that showed that route nearly bisecting the preserve that is adjacent to a section of SR 874.

While traffic relief in the SW 152nd Street and 117th Avenue interchange was the primary overall reason for accessibility, Linares said “mobility and connectivity” on both the Shula and turnpike would benefit as well as improving their use as hurricane evacuation routes. In addition, petitions preceding the hearing from homeowner organizations of both Tuscany Village and Venzia Lakes, communities with main entrances off SW 136th Street, indicated strong resident protests would continue if MDX chose that route.

“This will prove much more acceptable to our residents as well as those who use SW 136th Street as the main entry to their homes,” confirmed a spokesperson for nearly 500 Tuscany Village homeowners in the Three Lakes area off SW 133rd Street.

Even so, immediate opposition arose during a public comment section following close of the hearing, voiced by several commercial owners and a church pastor.

“Such a route will severely impact owners of commercial businesses now existing along SW 128th Street,” declared attorney Toby P. Brigham, representing J&B Importers Inc., K&B Investments Corp., So-Jo & Associates, Ltd., and Flyer Ventures Ltd., all fronting SW 128th Street.

Use of SW 136th Street would reduce overall cost since an existing 80-foot right of way would not involve eminent domain takings that would be required on SW 128th Street, “severely and adversely impacting the use and value” of client properties, he added. Brigham also claimed secondary effects of increased traffic on SW 128th Street would heighten danger to wildlife using the Smiley preserve as a habitat.

Traffic and parking issues were the reasons Pastor Kevin Foster of Miami Vineyard Church, 14260 SW 119 Ave., urged reconsideration, saying his 3,000-member congregation currently is in contract negotiations to purchase Signature Gardens at 12725 SW 127 Ave. as a new home. The presentation details can be viewed online at the MDX website at www.mdxway.com.

For those demanding only the freshest veggies, December has long had a special significance in Kendall. That’s when the first winter crops turn up at roadside stands to spice salads with ripe tomatoes and top holiday desserts with juicy strawberries.

Once a common sight dotting Kendall farmlands, “U-Pic-Em” displayed on handpainted signs once very common on many small farms in southwestern Miami-Dade County, attracted gourmets and thrifty housewives alike.

Now only two fields remain to carry on the Kendall tradition of picking your own fruit or vegetables when the season begins.

Two Kendall stands surrounded by small leased acreages date back three generations to the late Jack Wishart and his now-retired partner, Lynn Chaffin, the two men operating Kendall fields for more than 25 years during the latter part of the past century.

Now, Karl Wiegandt, husband of Lynn’s daughter, Lisa, manages more than 20 acres of farming produce in the two West Kendall locations with an up-to-date website you can visit at “Strawberries of Kendall.”

“Decided to change careers from mortgage brokering to managing an agricultural business six years ago,” said Wiegandt, 33, as the University of Florida business graduate primed an old-fashioned red pump and washed a handful of red tomatoes, hand-picked from a 12-acre field at 9600 SW 137 Ave.

“We’re a little late on the strawberries this year but we’ll be putting them out by the end of the month,” he added before visiting the family’s second 10-acre plot at 8800 SW 167 Ave. amidst bustling new community homes and shopping centers, just east of Krome (SW !77th) Avenue.

A third field operated by Chaffin eventually gave way to suburban sprawl off SW 137th Avenue to become the site of the London Square development.

“We once had 40 acres next to the lake off SW 117th Avenue,” recalled Chaffin who came to Miami from Arkansas to join Wishart in the farming venture. “That one went when the new Town and Country Center was built.

“Before then, people may remember the acreage where Dadeland now stands. For years in the ’50s, that was a popular pick ’em field before development of the mall began in 1960.”

Noting that while Miami-Dade was once a major U.S. center for winter crops, Chaffin said increased competition from Mexican and South American farms has impacted dramatically the cost of business, more than the availability of land.

“It’s not so much the crowding out of agricultural land as it is the cost associated with bringing crops to market,” he pointed out. “It costs $12,000 to $14,000 to harvest one acre of strawberries and $10,500 to $11,000 for an acre of tomatoes, just about the break even point with leased land and operational costs.”

Two severe freezes in January and December of 2010 also took a toll on small acreage farming but Chaffin suspects roadside stands should continue in places like the Redland, if they totally disappear in Kendall.

“Plenty of folks still like picking their own,” Wiegandt said, noting strawberry selfpickers save 25 cents a box at $2.50 compared with $2.75 at the stand while handpicked tomatoes cut 50 cents from the standbought $1.50 per pound price.

Buckets of gladiolas and sunflowers and eight types of herbs (sold in earth-packed boxes) also join vegetables from avocados to zucchini, displayed beside bright red radishes the size of golf balls.

Plump “Pablamo” green peppers, a “hot” variety at $1.50 per pound, are a favorite among West Kendall’s booming Hispanic population, too.

“All picked today,” Wiegandt emphasized. “We’re up at dawn, making absolutely sure everything is fresh-picked the same day.”