Reaction to Miami Herald's Editorial of October 1, 2007

The Miami Herald published an editorial on October 1, 2007, entitled "Keep options open for light rail." It criticizes the decision of the Florida Department of Transportation to opt for a plan that eliminates an elevated reversible lane miles-long bridge above existing I-595 in favor of an "at grade solution." The editorial can be seen here. In response, reaction was strong. Produced below are letters providing the other side of issue.

In its recent editorial, surprisingly bereft of any real analysis or good reporting skills, the Herald suggests the FDOT's final design solution for I-595's expansion was a "punt."  Over the years I have found it easy for others to adopt nomenclature to make up for a lack of meaningful analysis.  Sadly, this is just the tactic employed by the Herald in its flawed editorial.

As one of the founders of the group, "Concerned Broward Citizens for a Better 595, Inc." (and its companion website: www.595Alert.org),  I can report that throughout the last year, the Herald's Editorial Board has been disappointedly silent on the issue of FDOT's expansion of the I-595 corridor.  Despite our repeated entreaties, the Herald's Editorial Board did not actively engage in any meaningful review of the FDOT's original elevated bridge proposal which, when implemented , would have added a dangerous 50 foot high, eight mile long, bridge over the existing I-595 median.  

Indeed at no time would the Herald Editorial Board meet with us to examine the facts behind our solution to bring the additional lanes to grade.  The editorial, which is now three weeks stale, is short of any insight, factual reference or analysis.  The editorial also fails to recognize this one telling fact:  Every municipality that considered the prior elevated highway design unanimously rejected it.  The Broward County Commission, City of Davie and City of Plantation all were unanimous:  They were each opposed to the elevated highway design.  One would think that, at a bare minimum, a newspaper covering Broward County (including two of the largest cities in Broward), would have, at least, reported that telling fact in an editorial covering the now-rejected elevated highway project affecting one of Broward's most important arterial roadways.

Simply citing to "community opposition" is not providing your readership with the real story.  It lessens the impact of what really occurred.  Throughout the summer, thousands of Broward residents voiced their opposition and their preference for the better ("at grade") design through their elected officials. This was not simply an act of "community opposition."  This was local government working hand in hand with our highway officials (FDOT and FHA) to arrive at a far better answer than simply placing a large 50 foot bridge in the sky. 

It is shameful and unprofessional of your Editorial Board not to have at least discussed these facts and to engage in a meaningful analysis of all the reasons why the elevated highway would not work for Broward County.  Further, if you are truly the newspaper for Broward County, then why not offer positive solutions for traffic in south and north Broward County? (For example, offering to assist FDOT in expanding Pines and Commercial Boulevards to alleviate traffic in those sectors so that motorists would not be forced to travel far out of their way to I-595).

If the Herald had examined all of the facts and had the paper been involved with this story from the inception, it would have, in my opinion, reached a far different conclusion.  FDOT's decision to bring the median expansion to grade level was nothing short of a courageous, practical and safe decision for all Broward County residents. Indeed, District Secretary Wolfe is to be commended for his stewardship of this project which resulted in reaching the right decision for all Broward County residents. 

The decision will make it more practical to effectuate emergency rescue operations for motorists in the new median express lanes.  The decision will save taxpayers $200 million dollars (the "at grade" design is approximately $200 million less in cost than the flawed 50 foot bridge proposal).  The decision will reduce the potential for pollutants to disperse in the air at more harmful elevations and heights.  The decision will make it more likely that residents from cities in Davie and Plantation might directly benefit from the use of the new express lanes (both in real functional utility and economic measures). 

The decision will make it possible for mass transit to proceed immediately with the completion of the grade level express lanes (express busses utilizing the median express lanes).  The decision opens the door for a discussion of where the future mass transit corridor may be located.  If on the south of I-595, where FDOT suggests it may be located, one may conclude that the future of mass transit will be in good staid.  In that location, thousands of young residents will be able to utilize mass transit to access the college corridor (in Davie) rather than traversing over or under the current highway to access a future college metro station. 

Our group is now dedicated to assisting every affected municipality and FDOT to arrive at the right mass transit decision.  Clearly however, that decision was not to locate transit in the center of I-595.  Indeed, had that alternative survived, it truly could have been labeled as "punting" the mass transit project.  There are many more reasons for FDOT's correct decision to adopt the new "at grade" design (many are addressed in our website at: www.595alert.org).

Sadly the Herald failed to discuss any of those reasons.  Rather, the Editorial Board seems to have engaged in a hatchet job at the peril of its readership and the Citizens of Broward County.  Many of these very valid reasons were specifically addressed by District Secretary Wolfe in his detailed presentation to the Davie Town Council.  Had the Herald Editorial Board simply done its job and analyzed those reasons or had it returned one of our many telephone calls over the summer, it may have reached a different considered conclusion. 

The only reason one can imagine for supporting the former (severely flawed) bridge design is that it was supported by private interests intending to build it.  Indeed, at none of the PD&E charette meetings (I attended them all) for the I-595 expansion plan, did any member of the (non-commercial interest) public ever endorse the elevated bridge proposal.  As I recall only one resident ever spoke up in favor of the elevated highway at any one of the charettes and, as it turns out, he was a principal in a large public works construction firm who did not live in Plantation or Davie. 

One can only hope that the Herald, which had been supremely silent on this issue for the last year, is not pandering to those same private interests.

-David Weiss (10/1/07)

Unfortunately, this piece was written by a most uninformed writer. The plan does not do away with a transit corridor but merely moves it to the south side of the highway where it will do much more good and much less harm. There are many very serious faults with the elevated highway lanes proposal. Not the least of which involves life-safety issues for travelers.

To stay with a failed site plan that would leave a corridor in the median would more than likely assure that a rail component (or rapid-bus service in the median under the highway) would never be built because the expected ridership would be limited to the I-75—I-95 travelers without the opportunity to service the commercial and community stops that should be along the way. It that regards it undermines years of community economic development planning by the adjoining jurisdictions that would be cut off from expanded road and transit service. The most important of which is the university complex in Davie. Additionally, to create stations for any service in the median would make the highway rise further in height and face difficulties with pedestrian mobility from parking to the station.

The critical component of transit in Broward County is ridership and how to increase it to a critical mass that would enable sustainable operational funds and potential expansion based on that local financial support. The proposal to add environmentally clean rapid bus transit on the new, at-grade, expanded dedicated highway lanes is an excellent FDOT strategy to build ridership for future transit alternatives.

Another regrettable point of misunderstanding in the piece includes the absolute failure to understand the valid and considerable concerns that were expressed by the adjoining communities and the FDOT’s realistic reevaluation based on them. To suggest separation by using a “wide ditch with a steep slope, chain-link fences, side roads, on and off ramps and another, more narrow ditch next to developed property” flies in the face of all the efforts of community planners and smart growth advocates to plan livable and desirable communities with growth. This “highways-first at the expense of people and the environment” approach is  totally out of sync with 21st century planning.

It is naïve to think that it “will be only a matter of time before the Legislature finds a dedicated source of funding” because this would not be a local source of funding at all, with is required for federal transit funds in the New Starts program. There is a great deal of competition for these dollars across the nation and even within the State of Florida.

The statement that the decision wasn’t based on cost but on community opposition in incredulous. Government by the people and for the people is the bedrock of American democracy. In this case, the bureaucracy listened, investigated, and responded appropriately, to citizen input. They are mandated to do this. This is a marvelous demonstration of effective and sensitive planning.

Another misunderstanding on the part of the contributor is the belief that the FDOT has this responsibility “with an assist from county commissioners.” The Broward County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to oppose the elevated lanes and endorsed the at-ground alternative. But this action is informative only. The Florida DOT does not have to take direction from the county. The county is a legal creature of the state, even under a Home Rule Charter. And this is a federal highway that is ultimately decided by authority of the Federal Highway Administration under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

- Concerned Central Broward Resident (10/1/07)

Rather than attack FDOT for its sound decision to expand the highway on the ground, The Herald should be applauding. That is what the affected cities, county and citizens are doing. In order to ease congestion on I-595, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) decided to expand the highway, which was a good idea. Unfortunately, FDOT came up w/a tragically flawed plan for new elevated lanes on I-595, creating a double-decker road. The bridge that was to tower between 20 to 50 feet in the air and span 8 miles long would have been a horrible eyesore, source of noise and environmental pollution, and have very poor access for emergency vehicles and no access for Davie and Plantation drivers to even use these express lanes. The Editor's suggestion that these horrendous defects could have been solved with a few ditches and a chain link fence is absurdly ignorant. While FDOT seems to have come up with that plan in good faith, they simply failed to appreciate all of the negative impacts on the surrounding communities. Citizens concerned about the damage to our community met with commissioners from Broward County, as well as the cities of Davie and Plantation, each of which passed resolutions against the sky-highway. State representatives and senators also expressed grave concerns over this plan. Rather than letting their egos lead them to stubbornly stick to the original mistaken plan, DOT actually listened to the citizens and the municipalities involved. They went back to the drawing board, and came up w/a better concept to expand the road at grade-level, which accomplishes all of their transportation goals, while eliminating nearly all the harm. And they will save the taxpayers $200 million in the process by keeping the highway on the ground. It is a refreshing and faith-restoring to know that government officials including FDOT actually care what the people think. In this instance, they responded in the most wise and correct fashion. -Mark Grand (10/1/07) Your opinion piece entitled "Keep Options Open for Light Rail" presumes that the decision to build the three extra lanes on I-595 at ground level were ill-advised and that the decision was made because of the pressure from the surrounding communities. FDOT should be applauded, not for yielding to pressure but for showing a willingness to work with the surrounding communities and, in doing so, coming up with a plan that is sound engineering and less expensive. The Herald should have noted that the objections to which FDOT responded were not the typical cries of "NIMBY" that are so often voiced by countless civic associations that usually oppose public projects. They were reasoned objections such as the inaccessibility of accidents to emergency crews on a 7-1/2 mile "bridge," the lack of egress for cars trapped behind an accident or incident, the magnified effect of air pollution as it is spread by the breeze at higher levels, and the catastrophic result of a car or truck plunging over the rail as that tanker recently did at the Turnpike interchange with I-595. In my view, the constructive nature of the objections and the unprecedented willingness of a Florida department to work with the community representatives because of the validity of their issues, is the big news here. And the fact that the ultimate result is a solution that works well, is cheaper, and is satisfactory to the surrounding residents makes far more important copy than does such the knee-jerk assumption that FDOT merely yielded to irrational pressure. As for the prospects of light rail along the 595 corridor, that issue lies well in the future and is not foreclosed upon at all. The first time it will come up will be when the increase in traffic demands it, and when the comfortable express busses that are to be put on the new express lanes demonstrate that there is sufficient ridership to warrant it. This will probably come just about the time the arctic meltdown from global warming washes away the road beds. And, by then, we may have a totally different mass transit technology that does away with the need for an ungainly, elevated light rail system. -Ellis Traub (10/1/07) E-mail 595Alert.org by clicking here. Please send us your comments.