Support Key Biscayne

It’s becoming obvious that Miami Beach residents’ quality of life has suffered from its over abundance of development and tourist events. So it’s understandable that Key Biscayne residents are reluctant to go the same way.

An approximately nine-mile-long sandbar of a city, Miami Beach has a constant traffic jam and is a long ways away from the 1970s when its streets and causeways were mostly deserted.

What’s worse, it appears the city doesn’t have much of a plan for dealing with local accidents. As has happened lately, if there is a traffic or condominium construction accident on Collins Avenue, traffic literally stops, with no police personnel to re-route traffic.

This happened on Feb. 2 when an accident took place on 71st Street at Bay Road. Several hundred drivers spent over one hour traveling east in bumper-to-bumper traffic only to be told to “turn around and go back to Miami” by a lone officer at the North Beach Fountain. A usual 20-minute drive took two-and-a-half frustrating hours.

Given our traffic problems in a city where residents have to grocery shop before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. to be able to reach the stores and find parking, residents feel disrespected by the authorities and are losing hope that traffic problems are being seriously considered.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Support Key Biscayne."