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Miami-Dade county commissioners haver given the final approval to build a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1 at Mariposa Court.
Commissioners’ unanimous vote on Tuesday allowed the county to take over control of Mariposa from the city of Coral Gables so Miami-Dade can build the overpass 17 feet about U.S. 1 from the Metrorail University Station.
The University of Miami has been lobbying for the bridge for years. Eight UM students have been struck by cars and three of them killed trying to cross the intersection since 1989, most recently Ashley Kelly in 2005.
Current students, clad in the university’s signature orange and green, sat in the commission chambers Tuesday, as did state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, a Miami Republican and former UM student body president, to support the proposal.
UM President Donna Shalala, calling the bridge “one of the single most important issues” of her tenure, told commissioners the worst part of her job is telling parents that their child has died in an accident.
“Over the past 24 years, the intersection at U.S. 1 and Mariposa Court has been the scene of critical injuries and the loss of life,” she said.
A previous version of this article misstated the number of students who were killed after being struck at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Mariposa Court.
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