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Discussion on approach to address neighborhood traffic concerns.
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On January 28th, 2015 the City Commission directed staff to proceed with the development of a multi-modal comprehensive transportation plan to address issues related to congestion and increased traffic city-wide.
On April 28th, 2015 staff reviewed the draft RFQ to be advertised for the selection of a professional transportation firm to assist in the development of the comprehensive transportation plan. Staff will be proceeding to select the best qualified firm this summer so that work on the plan may begin at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Currently, staff has been working with several neighborhoods to address specific neighborhood traffic concerns. Some of the traffic concerns and issues will best be addressed through a comprehensive analysis and will be included in the comprehensive transportation plan; and some of the issues are local to specific neighborhoods and may be addressed in advance of the comprehensive transportation plan. In order to assure that we continue to provide the highest level of service and responsiveness to safety concerns, staff is recommending the following processes related to traffic issues:
1. Safety Issues- If after analysis it is determined that a safety issue exists such as speeding or another unsafe vehicular movement, staff including the Police Department and Public Works will continue to work with the neighborhood and Miami-Dade County until an acceptable solution is agreed upon, approved, and implemented. If the community does not agree on acceptable solutions, the City may proceed with temporary solutions such as temporary speed humps or other approved measures that will address the issue and provide additional data. Following the installation of temporary devices, the City will collect additional data on the street directly affected and also on adjacent streets that may also be affected. After the temporary data is collected, staff will further communicate with the entire neighborhood affected by the changes and develop a plan for an acceptable permanent solution. While it is always the intent to achieve neighborhood consensus on traffic control and calming devices, the City reserves the right to install approved devices when it is determined, by the Public Works Director and Police Chief, that the devices are required for public safety purposes.
2. Traffic Volume and Cut-through Traffic- When a concern about traffic volume and cut-through traffic is identified, the Police Department and Public Works will respond to the neighborhood by collecting data to define the issue. If the data indicates that the volumes are higher than normal but no associated traffic safety issues such as speeding or other unsafe movements are identified, then the issue will be referred for further analysis to the Comprehensive Transportation Plan consultant. If the initial analysis shows that in addition to high volumes, other safety issues exist, then the issue will be addressed as per #1 above.
3. Approvals- All traffic calming and street modifications shall be in conformance with Miami-Dade County "Traffic Flow Modifications/Street Closure Procedure" and shall be approved by Miami-Dade County prior to implementation.