Are The New Road Construction Projects Going to Accomplish ANYTHING?

Governor Crist was in town this week (before he dropped his party-dropping bomb Friday) to break ground on the $559 million reconstruction of the Dolphin/Palmetto Interchange. And as one who is perpetually bithcing about the traffic in this city, one might think I’d be delighted by this prospect.  And at first thought, I was. But then I realized that both this, and the multi-billion dollar widening of 595 up in Broward, are going to cause more problems than they’re going to solve.

SOME GIANT HEADACHES FOR LITTLE RELIEF

Let’s think about this for a minute. The Dolphin-Palmetto interchange is, admittedly, dismally congested during peak traffic hours. And yes, it would be nice if traffic could move a little more rapidly during these times. But what exactly are they going to fix? It’s a major interchange in a major city. Can you name one, anywhere, in any city that ISN’T perpetually clogged? Half a billion dollars is gonna do what exactly? Maybe make it so you don’t have to go onto the street for part of your drive. But I don’t think the delays are going to be leaving us any time soon. And really, I’ve driven this interchange more times than I care to recall, and it’s never been a major source of stress. Like, say, US-1.

Moving north, more of the ever-controversial stimulus money is going to be used to widen I-595. Grated, this particular roadway gets a little clogged during rush hour. But it’s not even in the league of the Palmetto or 95 during those times. Nor can it even compare to some of the more congested highways in other major cities. And while the thought behind easing the commute for some Broward County residents is admirable, the execution is going to be a nightmare.

With both the 595 and Interchange projects, traffic will be stifled during their years-long construction. Like, when the Palmetto was widened (or still is, really) traffic got worse. And that is exactly what will happen while these roads are being revised. So, in essence, we are spending money and creating even worse traffic for a couple of years so that in 2012 it might ease up a barely-noticeable amount. Doesn’t seem like a fair trade to me.

YOU CAN CREATE JOBS BY CREATING USEFUL PROJECTS TOO

In fact, widening these roads really isn’t going to help traffic much at all. You know what might? Less people driving. And the only way to do that would be to do something almost unprecedented in South Florida: Spend that stimulus money on Public Transportation. And I don’t mean busses. I mean maybe, possibly taking the Metrorail to places that residents find useful. Or at least have heard of. Or if that idea is just a little too forward-thinking for our city, how about doing something about US-1? Creating overpasses instead of lights perhaps? Or extending I-95 further south. Yes, that would be a major headache for a while, but so are these projects. And it doesn’t seem to stop them.

So while at first glance it may seem that these job-creation programs might do something to help our traffic problem, I’m going to predict that they don’t. I’m going to predict that they serve a nice purpose in pumping some money into the economy, but otherwise will be more or less wasted efforts. Maybe I will be proven wrong. And I hope that is the case. But for now, I’m not getting overly excited about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic that is the South Florida highway system.

Related Categories: About the Author: Matt Meltzer is a featured columnist at Miami Beach 411. See more articles by Matt Meltzer. See more articles by Matt Meltzer Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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