FDOT to Build Path in Miami
The Miami Herald has an article about how the FDOT will spend $4.5 million on one mile of path.
A blogger, John Hopkins, who runs a blog called Spokes ‘N Folks is quoted extensively in the article, but so far has not posted about it.
I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I endorse paths, but I really dislike the cost of them. I would rather see the money better spent.
The cost is insignificant compared to the benefits and compared to the costs of alternative transportation projects.
For example, Boston’s car segregated project, the so-called “Big Dig” cost over $20 billion. Just the federal dollars that went into that project could have transformed cities throughout the USA with proper cycle infrastructure.
One heart attack or stroke can easily wind up costing over $1 million with costs ranging from lost income to medical costs. At a mere 4.5 million, this critical transportation link will quickly pay for itself.
The cost is absurdly cheap compared with its benefits and compared with alternative transportation projects.
It’s essentially a sidepath to six-lane US 1, though crossings are rather limited because of the former railroad. Farther south it’s also next to a two-way busway. Widen the busway and allow bikes on it, and voila, no need for a separate sidepath. (Doesn’t help in the gap though, since the busway begins south of it.) The gap crosses a canal and the end of the four-lane Snapper Creek Expressway, probably explaining the cost. But why not mark SW 70th Avenue and SW 81st Street as an on-street connection (with only a bit of construction required to connect the two)? http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=25.687038,-80.3114&daddr=25.693589,-80.3063867+to:Metropath&geocode=Ff7zhwEdmIs2-w%3BFZUNiAEdLp82-ymBAZiRvcfZiDFaCK725oHf3Q%3BFQ4biAEdYLw2-w&mra=ltm&via=1&dirflg=b&sll=25.692682,-80.303664&sspn=0.016204,0.033023&ll=25.692044,-80.305145&spn=0.016204,0.033023&z=16&lci=bike Given that this passes under the expressway, it will probably be more convenient than the proposed at-grade crossing.
Also see http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2008/02/bike_blog_the_poor_poor_mpath.php about current conditions closer to downtown.
Better spent? This Gov? I accept bike and ped enhancements at the will and hands of whoever will fund and build them knowing if city A punts city B will accept no-matter the cost since it must be spent. This is not right but is the way it is. In Tallahassee they extended the St Marks Trail about 3 miles and spent millions but they put a monster french drain by it to correct the roadways issues. The insanity is systemic and spending ridicules but I will take crazy paths over crazy roadways anyday.