Miami lawmakers wanted to ban tolls on Palmetto Expressway. Tallahassee listened.
Florida State Sen. Manny Díaz has been driving on the Palmetto Expressway since he got his license more than 30 years ago.
Traffic has never been worse, he said. Residents agree.
Now, the Florida Department of Transportation is suspending tolls on State Road 826 and rolling back the express lane program that critics say has created more traffic issues than it solved.
Under the new strategy, the number of regular lanes on the Palmetto will reset to what it had been before the Florida Department of Transportation installed tolled express lanes on State Road 826 last year, Díaz said.
“Obviously the Palmetto was a roadway where you saw a lot of traffic, but not to this level,” said Díaz, a Hialeah Republican who helped broker the agreement with Gov. Ron DeSantis and the FDOT. “At the end of the day, it didn’t matter what day it was or what time it was, we experienced more traffic on the Palmetto Expressway than obviously in prior years.”
The new lanes were added from West Flagler Street in Flagami to just north of Northwest 154th Street in Miami Lakes.
Drivers seek relief
The reversal, which was announced Monday, shortcuts the much longer and uncertain legislative process that Diaz and another lawmaker had started.
The announcement comes about three months after Díaz and State Rep. Bryan Avila, a Miami Springs Republican, filed legislation in November calling for a ban on tolls on the Palmetto.
The proposed bill reignited residents’ complaints about the new tolls.
“On the palmetto they literally took two lanes away and the usage of the express lanes is minimal due to high cost and entrance exit points. Terribly planned,” wrote one Twitter user.
“It has made traffic worse for those who work in between the express lane entrances,” another user wrote.
“Horrible traffic problem and the express lane becomes one lane, if anything happens you do not even have a swale area to move to,” said one Miami Lakes resident on the community forum nextdoor.com. “I understand we need to find solutions to our traffic problems but that was not the correct solution. To our elected officials, please find solution the address this issue. Thanks!!”
After filing their legislation to ban tolls on the expressway, the lawmakers were approached by House Speaker José Oliva, a Miami Lakes Republican, who put them in contact with Gov. Ron DeSantis and state transportation officials.
“I think our main objective is to make sure that we alleviated or at least tried to alleviate as much congestion as possible on the Palmetto Expressway going forward,” Avila told the Miami Herald. “By extension, we are very sensitive to any additional financial burden on our residents.”
Construction needed
Few details have been released about the express-lane roll back.
Tallahassee will reduce the number of northbound express lanes from two to one, add a regular southbound lane and create new access to the express lane near Northwest 122nd Street, Diaz said.
And it will reduce the minimum 50-cent toll to zero, meaning tolls will be suspended indefinitely.
Neither FDOT nor the lawmakers said how the new southbound lane will be created, but an FDOT spokeswoman said construction will take place on the highway, along with short-term work like restriping lanes and moving lane dividers.
FDOT does not yet have a scheduled start date for the construction work or the suspension of tolls — or for how long.
“Our understanding is there is a timeline put in place,” Avila said. “I think that you’re going to be seeing the zero toll rate for an extended period of time.”
Diaz said the tolls may be suspended for at least one year.
“It’s gonna be like that for the duration of the project,” he said. “It could probably be over a year until they get finished with the whole thing.”
Diaz said he and Avila opted to deal with the governor and his transportation department because passing bills can be time-consuming, and fixing the Palmetto cannot wait.
“If you go the administrative route it becomes a little quicker and obviously the governor is able to direct FDOT to start the implementation process,” he said.
In a statement on Monday, Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Kevin J. Thibault said the new plan would help the department “better serve Miami-Dade’s residents and visitors.”
“The modifications we are implementing on the Palmetto Expressway will address the concerns that have been expressed by Governor DeSantis, Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, legislative leaders, and the traveling public,” Thibault said. “The department’s goal is to always increase safety and enhance mobility within our transportation system.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 8:05 PM.
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