Miami-Dade officially kills push for a private operator of the Rickenbacker Causeway

Declared unofficially dead weeks ago, the push for a private operator of the Rickenbacker Causeway was formally killed Wednesday by Miami-Dade commissioners after leaders of Key Biscayne thwarted the effort.

“Thank you all,” Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey told commissioners ahead of the unanimous vote to cancel a request for proposals the board launched in July, a plan that originally included a private operator for the Venetian Causeway between Miami and Miami Beach.

The ending of the bidding process for a developer leaves Miami-Dade looking for other options to repair Bear Cut Bridge, the element of the Rickenbacker most in need of an upgrade. On Wednesday, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said her administration would now work on two tracks: coming up with a plan for modernizing Bear Cut, and preparing a new request for proposals for upgrading the Rickenbacker.

She said the plan may be far less ambitious than the $500 million upgrade sought by Miami-Dade in the solicitation that was just killed, which included a separate bridge for bikers and overpasses for pedestrians and bikers along waterfront parking lots. “Depending on public input, the project might cost a lot less money,” she said.

The Rickenbacker “is already a great amenity. We know we have had fatalities that are not acceptable. We need to improve things to protect people who are using the causeway,” she said. Levine Cava said Miami-Dade also could lower the price tag if it can secure federal money from the recently passed infrastructure bill.

Scaling back the scope of a Rickenbacker upgrade would be a loss for architect Bernard Zyscovich, whose Plan Z blueprint for upgrading the causeway into a signature park and cycling destination was the basis for the county’s request for proposals from developers.

Zyscovich and private-equity investors formed the Plan Z Consortium group, which submitted a confidential proposal to the Levine Cava administration in March to take over the two causeways and the more than $15 million in tolls they generate each year

On Wednesday, the Plan Z group issued a statement saying it was “disappointed” by the vote.

“We sincerely hope that Miami-Dade County will prioritize crucial infrastructure improvements to one of the County’s most valuable — and at risk — public assets and move swiftly to begin their proposed new process,” the statement read.

The Venetian element of the original Plan Z proposal died quickly, with residents along that county-run thoroughfare objecting to being included in the proposal. Commissioners dropped that element of the bidding process in August, leaving the Rickenbacker as the only option for developers.

A county consultant in November said the proposed Rickenbacker upgrade would cost about $498 million to develop. It included a separate bridge for bikers and pedestrians off the William Powell bridge connecting Virginia Key with Miami.

Backers praised the plan as an opportunity to not only replace the Rickenbacker’s aging Bear Cut Bridge but to also make the causeway safer and more appealing as one of the county’s top cycling destinations and a scenic route for pedestrians over Biscayne Bay.

Leaders in Key Biscayne objected, saying the proposal focused too much on recreation and not enough on fixing traffic logjams along the lone land route linking Key Biscayne and its popular parks with mainland Miami.

Opposition from Davey and other Key Biscayne leaders sapped support for the project at County Hall, with both Raquel Regalado, the island village’s county commissioner, and Levine Cava saying they wanted to start over before bids were due this spring.

“The process took a nose dive,” said Jose “Pepe” Diaz, the commission’s chairman.

Commissioners on Wednesday also approved a resolution by Regalado instructing Levine Cava to produce a plan on how to prioritize replacement of Bear Cut Bridge, with the report due in 60 days.

“The idea is to come back and give us a sense of what else can be done besides just continuing to patch it up,” Regalado said.

An earlier version of this article was updated to correct an erroneous reference to a vote on a Miami-Dade County Commission resolution requesting a plan on how to repair or replace Bear Cut Bridge. The vote had not been taken when the article was originally published.

This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 1:48 PM.