Beginning at 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, through 5 a.m. the following morning, the westbound ramp from the Rickenbacker Causeway to southbound I-95 and U.S.1 will be closed for repairs of the ramp's concrete surface. During the closure, westbound drivers will have to keep left, toward Coconut Grove and Brickell Avenue. Motorists will turn left onto South Miami Avenue and then turn right onto northbound U.S.1, per FDOT's planned detour. (Drivers will still have access to northbound I-95 and all eastbound lanes will remain open, FDOT says.)
Officials from FDOT, the City of Miami, and the Village of Key Biscayne are crossing their fingers that the upcoming closure won't generate the level of chaos seen April 14.
The causeway closure that afternoon caught countless people off guard leaving the island, and drivers spent as long as five hours in standstill traffic. Grocery shelves were cleared out as if an apocalyptic event was imminent. Families were forced to aimlessly walk around Key Biscayne trying to keep their young children from melting down while others thought about sleeping on the island for the night.
During the fiasco, people shared on social media that they felt left in the dark about the closure, which was originally planned to continue for two months. As Miamians expressed their frustrations, local officials were quick to place blame on the state.
Did FDOT Give Fair Warning of the April 14 Closure?
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said that the City of Miami had no control over the April 14 closure, pointing the finger squarely at FDOT. Key Biscayne Mayor Joe Rasco noted the village "stressed to our partners at FDOT that a total closure of the ramps would be a serious problem."Following the traffic chaos, FDOT reversed course and decided to reopen the causeway. The department said it would workshop a "revised plan with community stakeholders prior to being implemented" in the future.
"While this phase of work was expected to last two approximately two months, the department is reevaluating the traffic management plan to maintain safety while also ensuring the continued movement of people and goods from Key Biscayne to the mainland," Tish Burgher, communications manager for FDOT District 6, said.
In the wake of the debacle, New Times reached out to FDOT to get to the bottom of how the department notified the community about the April 14 closure.
Leading up to the planned closure, Burgher said, there was "extensive outreach," including briefing sessions with local politicians and public safety officials, as well as door-to-door outreach in surrounding neighborhoods.
In mid-December, FDOT provided a project briefing to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins. The following month, the project team provided briefings to Key Biscayne's Director of Public Works, Cairo Cangas, the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and Village of Key Biscayne emergency services.
FDOT says it then had a pop-up event at the Key Biscayne Film Festival in February to notify the community about the project. The department also conducted a field visit and provided a project briefing to the Key Biscayne Village Council.
On April 5 — nine days before the closure — FDOT went door-to-door canvassing and spoke with residents in homes near the flyover bridge, visited schools and facilities along Virginia Key, and met with businesses and residents in Key Biscayne, the department says. Two days before the closure, officials visited shopping centers and businesses in Key Biscayne once again to ensure residents were aware of the project.
In March and April, the department issued press releases and posted on social media announcing the construction in an attempt to notify not only local residents but folks who might be planning to visit the island.
Lessons Learned?
The midweek timing and overnight hours of the upcoming May 2 closure may mitigate the prospect of reliving the kind of traffic disaster seen on and around the causeway in mid-April. The April 14 shutdown came on a Sunday when droves of visitors were on the island to stop by Crandon Park and other popular recreation spots. It appears that despite the outreach, many motorists on their way off the island were clueless as to what they were about to encounter.At a Key Biscayne Chamber of Commerce meeting held after the mess, the director of operations for FDOT District 6, Rudy Garcia, conceded that the department had not expected the level of disruption that played out as a result of the closure.
"We had 100 eyes take a look over this the past few years, and nobody realized," Garcia said. "We are taking a step back to avoid that catastrophe again."
The Islander News reported that Key Biscayne Chamber of Commerce members suggested that for future causeway closures, officials should limit the number of people who come to local recreation areas, create an extra outbound lane, and have police stationed at "choke points" to facilitate better outbound traffic flow.
FDOT recently sent out a press release about the impending May 2 project, though it appears the department's local district has yet to repost the alert on its X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook accounts.
"Please follow all posted signage and note that this schedule may change due to bad weather or other unexpected conditions," the department said in the press release.
On Tuesday, the City of Miami sent out an alert on X, noting that the westbound ramp on the Rickenbacker Causeway "will be CLOSED" (emphasis in original text) overnight beginning on May 2. The post had little more than 1,100 views as of noon Wednesday.
