Why a bridge divided Hialeah and Miami Lakes — and how it finally opened
After four decades of confrontation, a bridge connecting Miami Lakes and Hialeah has opened.
In a ceremony attended by local, state and federal politicians, Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. cut a ribbon Tuesday to formally open the vehicular bridge along Northwest 170th Street.
“Bridges are not monuments; they exist to make connections,” he said. “We want to create more connections in this area, invest and improve the residents’ quality of life.”
About 16,000 Hialeah residents will benefit from the new access, plus about 8,000 in Palm Springs North and Miami Lakes.
Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid and his government team were not at the ceremony. Cid had previously told el Nuevo Herald that he would not attend the event because for “us it’s not a day of celebration.”
But Bovo noted that “without the political leadership of Manny Cid we wouldn’t have come this far.”
Miami-Dade Commissioner René García, who represents both municipalities, said that the county’s plan to unite Miami Lakes and Hialeah has not ended with this bridge.
“We must seek connectivity with I-75,” he said. “For this we need federal, state and county collaboration. It is necessary for the safety of the inhabitants of the area.”
García acknowledged that many Miami Lakes residents are worried about the possibility of increased traffic, but “the connection exists for public safety. They had no accesses, just one entrance and one exit on Northwest 97th Street,” he explained.
Hialeah Police Chief George Fuente told el Nuevo Herald that with the opening of the bridge, his department will be able to provide a much more efficient security and protection service for residents.
“Any avenue or street that opens in this area will be beneficial for the inhabitants of the area and for police patrols,” Fuente said.
Getting to this point wasn’t easy. The agreement was preceded by litigation, the construction of a park at the access to one of the connections, municipal voting and countless political negotiations.
How was this agreement achieved?
The advocacy that gave birth to the bridge began eight years ago with a complaint of Eddie Santiesteban, a resident of a border area annexed by Hialeah. Seeing little response to his requests and those of his neighbors, he ran — unsuccessfully — for City Council in 2021 with the goal of opening the bridge.
When his daughter had an emergency that involved breathing difficulties, he began to demand that the authorities open the access.
The issue gained ground in 2017, when Bovo, at the time commissioner of Miami-Dade County’s District 13 and president of the Transportation Commission, became interested in resolving the dispute involving both communities.
At the time, Bovo represented residents of Hialeah, Miami Lakes, Palm Springs North and other unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County. Today the mayor acknowledges that “perhaps the residents didn’t want the bridge to open. I saw that in the long term sooner or later we would have to open those bridges.”
Over five years of no progress, Miami Lakes filed a lawsuit to prevent the opening of vehicular access, and built Bridge Park in the area that would block access.
Bovo said that when he was elected mayor of Hialeah, Cid asked him “to see how an agreement that would benefit the two cities could be reached, and that’s how this process to open the Northwest 170th Street bridge began,” he said.
For the mayor of Hialeah, the negotiation that ended four decades of discord over the connection is not a triumph but “a success of the government and the mayor of Miami Lakes, the Hialeah government, Commissioner René García, Commissioner “Pepe” Díaz, and the county government. It is a success for everyone because everyone cooperated.”
However, Cid explained to el Nuevo Herald that “the most important thing is that the Northwest 154th Street bridge will remain closed” to traffic. That bridge will be open to pedestrians and bicyclists only for now.
Why will the NW 154th St. Bridge remain closed?
Miami Lakes wanted both bridges to remain closed while Hialeah wanted to open both.
“Miami Lakes was not going to drop the lawsuit if we continued to demand that the 154th Street bridge be opened as well,” Bovo said.
Mayor Cid said the agreement “is not ideal for Miami Lakes, but at least we didn’t lose this bridge as well (154th Street). We negotiated the opening of the 170th Street bridge because with the litigation we had, we would undoubtedly lose both bridges at the same time.”
For Santiesteban, “the opening of this bridge not only gives us road access, but also allows us to deal with an emergency and have greater security in the area. Its opening is a victory for the safety and health of the residents of the east and the west, for the children who go to school in the area — and before they had to spend more than 40 minutes to get to their schools.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2022 at 7:08 PM.
