Is your street on Miami Beach’s list to raise? Here’s a road map of what’s ahead
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Road raising in Miami Beach
Miami Beach is the first city in the U.S. to dramatically raise roads ahead of the two feet of sea level rise expected by 2060. Residents have pushed back with concerns about aesthetics, the need for the projects and what they will do to low-lying properties. The city contends the projects work well and will reduce flooding.
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Miami Beach has spent years — and millions of dollars — refining its road-raising program. With two feet of sea level rise expected by 2060, enough to flood 40 miles of city roads, the city has been on an aggressive mission to floodproof its streets.
In 2019, the city hired another engineering group to analyze its controversial strategy and tell Miami Beach which order it should do the projects in. This list takes into account more than just which roads are the most prone to flooding. It accounts for whether the sewer and storm pipes underground are failing, if the road is an important one for evacuation and how many people live near it.
The final list, released in April 2020, has 54 projects on it. Only about half of the projects need their roads raised.
The city is already underway with two projects — West Avenue and First Street — that aren’t at the top of the list. Miami Beach’s Chief Resilience Officer, Amy Knowles, said the next road raising project will be in North Beach, “due to it being ‘resilient ready’ due to the North Beach Master Plan, an approved resilient overlay, and the North Beach CRA.”
There, all roads will be raised between 6 inches and 2 feet. That includes the following eleven projects: 1, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 31, 41 and 43. The problem for homeowners who want to make plans is that the city has not provided a timeline for when these projects might start or end. Recent road-raising projects have lasted around five years each.
After North Beach, the city’s plan is to follow this list:
Do you have questions about road raising in Miami Beach? Check out this list of frequently asked questions from the city.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
