Palmer Trinity and Traffic

Commenting on the story about Palmer Trinity Private School's plans (full story here) to expand Cape Cutler Homeowners Association's President Ron Blackburn wrote " Their plans to increase enrollment to 1400 students from the current 600 shows an excessive greed to be bigger and better than any other private schools around. Current zoning codes require building heights of no more than 35 feet, yet they are requesting variances for 5 buildings, including a 71 foot steeple and bell tower - more greed! Knowing that they pay no taxes, use our police and fire services and want to put stadium lights and a public announcement system right beside of our beautiful and quiet neighborhood is appalling and again shows pure unadulterated greed. The traffic created by the increased enrollment is mind boggling, and will not only affect the folks living around the school in Palmetto Bay but also the unsuspecting souls of Cutler Bay."

Ron Blackburn is right on the mark, the project if approved will have profound implications not only on residents of Palmetto Bay but also on neighboring communities Cutler Bay which lies just south of the proposed expansion and Pinecrest which sits north of Palmetto Bay. To understand the traffic ramifications let us examine a few facts and figures from the Miami Dade County's website.

Transportation Corridors

Miami Dade County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has divided the County into 6 Corridors

North Beach Central South West Northwest

Of all the Corridors the South corridor extending from Kendall Drive all the way to Florida City is the largest

South Corridor - Characteristics

• According to 2000 census South Dade has 28% of county’s population and only 25% of the jobs.
  
• County wide 14.3% of households do not have vehicles for transportation, South Dade the percentage drops to 7.9% of households without cars.
  
• The southern third of Miami-Dade County only has three through, north-south facilities:
  
• Krome Avenue along the far western urban boundary
  
• The Homestead Extension of the Florida Turnpike
  
• And US 1 (South Dixie Highway). It is unlikely that any additional streets will be developed as through facilities within the next twenty years. South Dixie Highway is the only facility that connects to job rich areas of the County and it cannot be expanded because of major adjoining development.

Areas lacking through streets

Areas Where The County expects Population Growth From The Present 4900 People Per Square To 8,200 People Per Square Mile By The Year 2030

Let us look more closely at the corridor, which has been divided into three segments:

 
North Segment (between Dadeland South and SW 216th Street)
Central Segment (between SW 216th and 264th Streets)
And South Segment (between SW 264th and 344th Street).

Jobs-Population Balance

The result of this situation is that persons within the South Dade area have to travel outside of their region to work, creating an increased strain on already overcapacity facilities. It also results in traffic passing through these communities.

The Future

Projected employment growth is approximately 33% and projected housing growth is 31.6%. The number of workers available is less than the number of jobs, indicating that people will have to travel into the northern part of the county from other areas to fill all the jobs.

The average household size is 2.8, the employment to housing ratio is 1.6, and the worker to housing ratio is 1.4. The projected trends for South Dade and Downtown indicate that housing and worker growth will outpace the growth in employment. The opposite is true for the remainder of the County, where employment and worker growth will slightly outpace housing growth. The result is that persons residing in South Dade will have to travel outside of the area to find employment.

US1

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recorded an average annual daily traffic volume of 94,000 vehicles along US 1 south of Dadeland in 2003. This volume far exceeds the published capacity guidelines for a six-lane urban arterial. According to FDOT traffic count data along the corridor, US 1 capacity has been saturated for approximately 20 years. Increases in travel demand strains the capacity of the existing network, causing delays and increased travel times between activity centers within the corridor and the region.

South – North Access

Only Krome Avenue and the Florida Turnpike extend all of the way north and south across southern Miami-Dade County. Krome Avenue is a two lane rural facility running along the western urban boundary. It is heavily used by trucks to the agricultural uses along Krome Avenue.

The Florida Turnpike is a 4-lane limited access facility that is heavily used by commuters in the western half of the urban area. Much of the Turnpike is over capacity in the peak directions.

The only other street that extends through very much of South Dade is Old Cutler, a two lane road that runs entirely through residential areas between SW 242 nd Street and Coconut Grove. The entire stretch of Old Cutler Road is already over capacity. Add to this a massive complex like the one proposed by Trinity Private School, Old Cutler will be gridlocked all day as none of the other north-south facilities are continuous.

Not all traffic is generated by commute to and from work there are other traffic generators such as retail shopping, visit to Banks, visit to restaurants and fast food, doctor office visits, service stations. Massive influx of a floating population by a non-tax paying entity will also put severe strains on local resources and the Village of Palmetto Bay's infrastructure.