Art Basel and Miami Art Week traffic is evil. This information might help you survive it
Miami weekday traffic stinks except for that narrow 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. window. Then there’s Miami Art Week traffic — the lost 10th circle of hell. Pure evil.
Miami drivers east of Miami International Airport, north of Coral Gables and south of North Miami tell chilling tales of 15-minute drives taking 90 minutes to two hours. Interstate 95 at a noon standstill. Walks to and from Pollo Tropical where the pedestrian passes the same cars coming and going, having covered a mile on foot while the drivers have crawled two blocks.
Here’s some information that might help you in addition to leaving a large amount of travel time:
Miami Beach
Discussion of the worst Art Week traffic starts and stops — mostly stops, sits and crawls — with Miami Beach, where the week climaxes with Art Basel Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
So to decrease the number of folks rolling their cars across the causeways into ever-increasing traffic jams, water taxis began running Wednesday between the Venetian Marina & Yacht Club, 1635 N. Bayshore Dr., near the Venetian Causeway on the Miami side and Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, 1790 Purdy Ave. aka Sunset Harbour Dr.
Four water taxis began running at 10 a.m. and will run after 15 minutes until midnight Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and until 10 p.m. on Sunday. In Miami Beach, shuttles will run every 15 minutes from Maurice Gibb park throughout the events in Miami Beach.
Also, a short walk down the street and around the corner brings you to the trolley stops near Publix, 1920 West Ave. The free trolley service runs on four different loops and run from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Miami
Miami police announced Wednesday that Northwest Second Avenue will be completely closed from 22nd to 29th streets each day from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. The intersection of Northwest Fifth Avenue and 24th Street also will be closed.
Also, dropoff and pickup for Lyft, Uber and other rideshare companies can be used Thursday and Friday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. Those areas are 22nd Street and North Miami Avenue; Northwest First Avenue from 28th to 29th streets; Northwest Third Avenue and 27th Street; and Northwest Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street.
Metromover will run until 1 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
