Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins delivers on major campaign promise to residents to bring traffic relief to South Dade through 87th Avenue Project

From the Office of Miami-Dade County District 8 Commissioner, Danielle Cohen Higgins
For Immediate Release:
March 18, 2021
Contact: Natalia Zea
Natalia.Zea@miamidade.gov

MIAMI-DADE—Today, Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins delivered on her campaign promise of providing traffic relief and connectivity for District 8. Through Commissioner Cohen Higgins’ advocacy in support of the 87th Avenue Project, the Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) Governing Board overwhelmingly approved the project, which includes the construction of a bridge on the County’s section line road to allow drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians to cross safely over the C-100 canal in Palmetto Bay. The project has been part of the master plan in Miami-Dade County since 1978 and has been recommended multiple times by the County’s traffic engineers at the Department of Transportation and Public Works, who say it will reduce peak traffic time by 10 percent, shortening it by an hour and a half in the morning and an hour and a half in the evening.

A Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue study released last month showed that 23 percent of life-threatening calls, over the past four years, may have been impacted by a slower emergency response, as responding crews could not directly cross the canal.

“District 8 residents deserve this long overdue traffic relief,” said Commissioner Cohen Higgins. “Traffic, as the single largest quality of life issue in South Dade, is debilitating. We need solutions now, and this project, today becoming a reality, is one of them. I thank my colleagues for understanding the issue and supporting this project, which is so important to the hard-working residents of District 8.” 

Public engagement was a key part of the 87th Avenue project, prior to today’s vote. Commissioner Cohen Higgins established a Community Connectivity Committee which met several times, to hear directly from residents and to gather facts about the project from various County departments including Transportation and Public Works, Fire Rescue, Police, and the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s Office. The Committee’s report was provided to the TPO ahead of the vote. There were a total of 14 public community meetings on this project since the beginning of February 2021.

The project will cost an estimated $3.3 million and will be funded entirely through already collected and available county Road Impact Fees (RIF), which are designated specifically for traffic solutions in the area. The Department of Transportation and Public Works estimates construction to begin in January of 2022.

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