Miami-Dade reveals Rickenbacker, Venetian privatization details. Bids due in fall.
Miami-Dade County this week asked for-profit developers to bid on privatizing the Rickenbacker and Venetian toll causeways, rejecting objections from Miami Beach leaders to leave their bridges out of the process and revealing details of an upgraded beach and biking destination on the way to Key Biscayne.
The request for proposals released Monday doesn’t seem to contain any major surprises from bidding documents that had already circulated in draft form this summer.
Miami-Dade wants to let a for-profit company collect tolls on both island connectors and operate concessions on park areas off the causeways, with revenue expected to cover about $510 million in repairs and replacement costs for infrastructure in both areas.
That includes a replacement for Bear Cut Bridge on the way to Key Biscayne and multiple bridges on the Venetian, which connects Miami with Miami Beach.
A draft version of the bidding documents predicted an 80-year agreement for the operator, which would take over toll operations on both causeways and maintain popular beaches on Virginia Key. Those would get upgrades, too, including gazebos and a visitors center with banquet space, a bike shop and a coffee stand, according to the final bidding documents released Monday.
The proposal also calls for overpasses on the Rickenbacker to let bikers and pedestrians travel over some intersections, and a rebuilt fishing pier that would start on the western end of the William Powell Bridge, with the existing eastern pier set for demolition.
Bikers and pedestrians would have their own mini bridge built on the southern side of the Powell with an observation deck at the top, and a broad path running along the street-level causeway by the beaches.
Bidding documents contain fewer details on plans for the Venetian, beyond replacing bridges and creating protected bike lanes and recreational uses along the causeway.
The administration of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava based the request for proposals on the long-standing “Plan Z” for the Rickenbacker to create a safer and more scenic biking route for the popular cycling destination and fund it with toll dollars that could pay for roadway and bridge improvements, too.
Plan Z creator and architect Bernard Zyscovich and partners, including private equity investor Partners Group and former Miami-Dade parks director Jack Kardys, submitted a confidential privatization proposal in March with Plan Z elements. That formed the basis of the bidding process that is now open to any competitor, including the Zyscovich group. Bids are due Nov. 4.
Key Biscayne leaders see the plan as too focused on improving rides for cyclists and not enough on reducing traffic to the village that shares a single thoroughfare with a popular state park and county marina. Mike Davey, Key Biscayne’s mayor, said the bidding document does allow some flexibility to put more attention on traffic but generally seems to reflect Zyscovich’s vision for the causeway.
“The Z Plan is very creative,” Davey said Tuesday. “But it doesn’t include every idea that could be proposed.”
Miami Beach leaders are resisting the privatization push for the Venetian, as have residents who live along the causeway.
Sally Heyman, a Miami-Dade commissioner representing Miami Beach, asked Levine Cava to drop the Venetian from the proposal. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said he shared Heyman’s concerns and felt the Venetian was “included as an afterthought, which is obviously concerning.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 8:09 PM.