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Luft Consulting) Inc. .~~_.~ __.. '.3..._ ,~" ~. .....~ :;:,i~~,~~ ,. ....-A'i. .~i ~\ .', . ,\l .,,\,.~ It ...~ . ~'ff.'" ..~lt ~.. .\.'~,. ' . .. Urban Flanning & Design May 7, 2008 Mr. John Szerlag City Manager City of Sunny Isles Beach 18070 Collins Avenue Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 33160 Re: Vehicular Bridge Dear Mr. Szerlag, I have reviewed your memorandum of March 25, 2008 regarding the recommendation to construct a vehicular bridge over the canal at North Bay Road and offer the following comments. This issue was discussed and debated at length during the community workshops conducted for the preparation of the 2000 Comprehensive Plan prepared by this office. My initial recommendation as the planner engaged to prepare the plan was for a new vehicular bridge connecting the segments of North Bay Road north and south of the canal at 1nnd Street to be built. This recommendation was based on several factors: 1. The only north-south roadway linking neighborhoods north of 183rd Street to the central neighborhoods south of 183rd Street and those south of 1 nnd Street and south of Sunny Isles Beach Boulevard is Collins Avenue (SR AlA). The traffic segments of AlA between the south City limits and 183rd Street were operating in 1997 at levels of service E, one level above failing (F). This was before the construction in the past decade of almost 10,000 new housing units, most of them abutting Collins Avenue. The recommendation to link the two severed segments of North Bay Road with a bridge was to provide alternative vehicular access to Sunny Isles Beach Boulevard and the mainland to the west for residents living west of Collins Avenue and south of 183rd Street. 2. The neighborhood between the canal at 172nd Street and 183rd Street has no direct access to either of the two hurricane evacuation routes on Lehman Causeway and Sunny Isles Beach Boulevard except through Collins Avenue. In the event of storm surge preceding a hurricane, beach wash of sand and debris can easily block Collins Avenue, as has occurred in the past in communities to the north and south. Blockage of Collins would trap residents within and block emergency vehicle access to this neighborhood. 3. The increasing incidences of vehicular traffic gridlock on Collins Avenue due to peak hour congestion, special events, accidents and emergency roadway and utility repair work has created significant periods during which police, emergency fire/rescue and medical evacuation vehicle access to the central area neighborhoods between 163rd Street and 183rd Streets are effectively blocked endangering residents lives and property during those times. 17 17 Windward Walj, SanibelJsland, Fla, ))957 Fh2)9-)95-2215 Fax2)9-)95-1787 jIIuft@earthlink.net