CMX Cinema 13 Miami Lakes<\/a>. Some of those lots are fully or partially closed for now. The Graham Companies executive leading the project says the inconvenience will be worth it once the lots drain better and stay drier, even in a rainstorm.<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re adding drainage infrastructure to handle today\u2019s weather, and the future\u2019s,\u201d said Laura W. Ratliff, president of Graham Commercial.<\/p>\n
The project costs more than $4 million and is the most significant upgrade to these roughly 40-year-old lots since they were built. Besides new drainage, it includes raising the lots so they slope properly, repairing uneven pavement and broken curbs, adding updated lighting and improving the landscaping. The work also brings the lots in line with current ADA accessibility standards, so they\u2019re safer and easier to get around for everyone.<\/p>\n
The work is being done in phases, and Ratliff expects it to be largely finished by the end of the year or early 2027. When it\u2019s done, she said, residents and visitors will notice a big difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s a rainy day, you can leave your rain boots at home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Some of the most visible changes involve the lots\u2019 trees.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemoving any of these trees was a hard decision. We planted many of them years ago, and they\u2019re part of the character of Miami Lakes,\u201d Ratliff said. \u201cBut our first responsibility is making sure Main Street is a safe place for everyone who visits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over time, the trees\u2019 roots had become the source of many of the lots\u2019 safety problems. They cracked and lifted the asphalt and curbs, creating tripping hazards, and damaged the drainage structures underneath. When crews dug up the old drainage system, they found much of it destroyed by roots and packed with dirt, so it no longer worked at all. Many of the trees had also outgrown their planting areas, which left their roots too cramped to keep growing in a healthy way.<\/p>\n
Before work began, project leaders walked the site with an arborist and marked only the trees whose removal was considered absolutely necessary. Every other tree was kept.<\/p>\n
When the project is complete, more trees will have been planted than were removed. The new trees were chosen with more care, both in which species were selected and where they were planted, so they have room to grow and stay healthy for decades without damaging the pavement or infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to make sure the next generation of trees on Main Street can thrive here for the long term,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Graham Companies has more improvements planned around Main Street, and Ratliff said to stay tuned. But sometimes the unglamorous work has to come first.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a time to reinvest in infrastructure,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd our time is now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parking lot drainage infrastructure isn\u2019t anyone\u2019s idea of a glamorous issue. But if you\u2019ve ever walked from your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-432564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}