Key Biscayne residents learned Tuesday night how the Village’s $950,000 contribution could be spent for “The Shoreline” project, an out-of-the-box proposal by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado for a “reimagined” Rickenbacker Causeway.
Joined by Village of Key Biscayne Manager Steve Williamson, concept designer Juan Mullerat of Plusurbia, and Eulois Cleckley, Chief Executive Officer for Friends of The Underline, the 55-minute Zoom presentation covered some previous territory but also provided a timeline, a clearer understanding of traffic and bike lanes and how the Village’s funding effort will be divided through seven steps of a nine-month process before any final plan can proceed.
Regalado thanked the Village for “their enormous support,” and said this would be one of many orientations coming up to keep everyone informed of the progress.
“Key Biscayne has long prioritized traffic improvements along the causeway,” Williamson said. “We believe this concept aligns closely with what we have been (looking forward to) for years. (That includes) Creating more open spaces, providing a safer path for drivers and bicyclists and pedestrians and making the causeway more resilient were just some of the factors that made this concept a plus.”
Williamson said there are still questions that need to be answered.
Is the concept feasible? Is it financially feasible? Is it operational feasible?
“We need to know that it meets the Village’s goals and (can continue to be a positive factor) long over time,” Williamson said.
Regalado and Williamson said, with several meeting points along the way, that this would be a community-oriented plan.
“The Shoreline” plan seems to be gaining momentum with the recent addition of The Knight Foundation as a supporter.
Regalado, who showed her concept earlier this year on her Instagram video, said she is looking for additional support from other communities as well, and that this project does take into consideration the “reset” going on at The Miami Seaquarium and is hoping the progress on her plan will catch up with the NEPA (environmental study) process for the Bear Cut Bridge.
So, what did we learn?
Mullerat, in his presentation on “A Vision of the Future of the Rickenbacker Causeway,” answered several questions and explained some of the slides he showed.
For example:
• The viaduct (a split level roadway on the upper level for the estimated 28,000 faster, straight-through vehicles daily to Key Biscayne) would be 28 feet high and would include two lanes both ways, with 10-foot-wide emergency vehicle shoulders on both sides, as well as on and off ramps in the middle portion of the roadway so as not to interfere with bicyclists. “The idea is to separate the speeds as much as we can,” Mullerat said.
• Because state and federal regulations allow for bikes to take up no more than one lane of roadway, cyclists would have to be permitted on the viaduct, although those emergency vehicle shoulders should provide ample space for at least some of the speedy, smaller packs of peloton riders.
• Slower traffic turning off to the Marine Stadium and to MAST Academy, for example, would remain under the viaduct, where four lanes of traffic and thinner bike lanes would exist, along with a multi-modal sidewalk-type of lane on the beach-park side of what could be The Underline connection for skateboarders and other types of slower travel. “Our goal is to accommodate every type of bike on Key Biscayne,” Mullerat said.
• When asked how vehicles would turn around within the viaduct, Mullerat showed how traffic circles underneath, instead of traffic lights, could accommodate that and keep vehicles moving, along with the previously mentioned ramp access points.
• Protective dunes, more trees, more permeable parking, and safer pedestrian crossing (the crossing distance area for students at MAST would be cut in half) are just some of the positives that go with this design, he said.
Seven steps of Village funding
Key Biscayne’s $950,000 contribution, approved by Village Council, will be split up among seven key tasks, Cleckley explained, in milestone step-by-step format throughout the process to gain feedback among staff, the community and Village Council members.
Should there be a sticking point where the process is not feasible (there’s that word, again), then other options would need exploring.
The total cost of the project, Cleckley said, could not yet be determined without the adaptation of at least five of the seven tasks.
Here are those seven tasks (and the Village’s funding toward each) for the nine-month process:
1. Agency coordination and status review ($95,160, or 10% of the distribution): This would define roles, responsibilities and authority; identify the permitting process; and look at funding and possible grant funding. Stakeholder meetings would need to be held.
2. Comprehensive technical baseline assessment ($76,000 or 8%): This calls for the feasibility of the concept by reviewing the current design and existing utility and engineering factors, and making sure the land use is legal. It also includes if the plan aligns with projects on the Bear Cut Bridge, William Powell Bridge, beach and drainage projects, and the County’s Rickenbacker Master Plan.
3. Feasibility assessment report ($216,680 or 23%): This is the first big step of a three-step process in which cost implications, detailed price points, environment and resiliency assessments, and project risks would all have to be studied.
4. Concept plan update ($381,340 or 38%): Here is where updated shoreline renderings would need to be produced with engineering, planning, mobility strategy, landscape and layout patterns, public space programming, and revenue-generated opportunities that would need to be brought forward “to sustain funding for future use.”
5. Basis of design report ($124,840 or 13%): A comprehensive report, with design criteria and technical aspects would need to be provided, along with a cost estimate.
6. Business plan ($37,565 or 4%): This step would need additional funding to show a strategy for a pathway forward. The business plan would have to show product deliverables; who governs and manages the public spaces; the economic and operation feasibility assessment; long-term operating budget assumptions; revenue-generating opportunities; and a funding and financing evaluation.
7. Stakeholder and community engagement ($38,415 or 4%): This step also would need additional funding to collect feedback from the Village, the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County through coordination meetings with each entity.