Looking for a traffic fix, Florida may build double-decker ramps for Julia Tuttle

Searching for a traffic fix at one of Miami’s busiest interchanges, Florida might build double-decker lanes connecting I-95 with the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

The elevated ramps would let cars travel directly from I-95 to the bridge connecting Miami with Miami Beach, bypassing the stretch of I-195 that includes exits to Miami’s Midtown shopping district. The proposals under consideration in a state study would cost as much as $370 million to build. They’ve received an exasperated response from transit advocates urging Florida to create dedicated lanes for buses and bikers instead of more space for cars

“You can’t just double-deck a highway, dump thousands of more cars into Miami Beach and expect everything to be okay,” said Azhar Chougle, director of Transit Alliance Miami, which called the double-decker ideas “a massive waste of money” that would “cement car-dependency” in a Twitter post earlier this month.

Is Florida going to build a double-decker bridge for the Julia Tuttle Causeway?

Administrators for the state’s Transportation Department emphasize the double-decker scenarios are just options being considered as part of an in-depth look at how to ease traffic on I-195.

“We’re at the very early stage of the planning process,” said Shereen Yee Fong, project manager for the Transportation Department study. “Nothing has been decided. No alternatives have been selected. Everything is usually on the table for the planning study.”

Even so, a preliminary analysis in the $1.8 million state study concluded the double-decker scenarios would ease traffic the most, with delays in 2045 projected to be down about 67 percent compared to doing nothing. And double-decker ramps connecting I-95 to Miami Beach have already been approved nearby, for the new “signature bridge” project by the MacArthur Causeway about a mile south of the Tuttle.

To create more space for cars and trucks, state planners say, there aren’t many options in built-out urban areas like Miami.

“We have run out of real estate,” said Tish Burger, communications manager for the Transportation Department’s Miami office. “One of the ways to add travel lanes is to build up, rather than out.”

Part of the plan for the Tuttle includes protected bike and pedestrian paths along the center of the state-controlled bridge. The project is also considering a boost for transit on the Tuttle, with center shoulders on the Tuttle redesigned to accommodate buses when traffic grinds to a halt. Buses could use the shoulders to avoid extreme congestion, but would run on regular lanes whenever regular traffic was moving faster than 35 mph. That’s still not the dedicated lane required to speed buses faster than traffic, as Miami-Dade created for its South Dade busway connecting Florida City with Metrorail.

The Transportation Department could make a decision on the project choice by 2022, with construction at least a decade away, said Kenneth Jeffries, a planning manager for the agency.

For the elevated lanes, the most expensive option would involve a pair of double-decker ramps for I-195. One would connect Tuttle traffic with I-95’s regular lanes, the other with the tolled express lanes. Motorists exiting I-95 would have the option of driving directly to the Tuttle or using the I-195 exits to Miami.

Miami Beach has been pressing Florida for more access to the I-95 express lanes, which steer beach traffic to the entrances and exits at I-395 by the MacArthur. With traffic already disrupted by the signature-bridge project and Miami-Dade considering building a monorail or other transit option for the MacArthur, city leaders say residents need a northern option to hop on the I-95 toll lanes.

“Traffic is just getting worse and worse,” said city commissioner Ricky Arriola. “We want an alternative. We’re stuck.”

Even so, Arriola said Miami Beach hasn’t pushed for double-decker ramps or anything that extensive for an I-195 upgrade. “We were hoping they could just move some of those cones,” he said.

This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 6:15 AM.