Good news -- two quickies, bikers:
First, this Friday will mark the opening of the last stretch of the “Miami-Dade Busway Project,” a six and a half-mile multi-use path from the Dadeland South Metrorail that connects all the way to Florida City – that’s about twenty-one miles. The busway is open only to buses and emergency vehicles and the path, seperated from the bus lane by a curb, is open for bicycles, walkers, and runners. Once a mile-long gap between Dadeland South and the M-path (that’s the bike path beneath the Metrorail tracks on US-1) is completed, the whole network will consist of over thirty miles of dedicated bike and pedestrian roadway, running from Florida City to the mouth of the Miami River.
Not bad, although the M-path leaves much to be desired (more on that soon).
Second, rumor has it – and Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator David Henderson confirms - that bike lanes will be coming to NE 2nd Ave, which is good news for anyone who ever manuevers the City of Miami by bicycle. The street is a natural choice for bikers – it has much less traffic than Biscayne (and without the gigantic curbs that the city, in its wisdom, allowed), and it’s not all curvy the way NE 4th Court is.
All in all, it’s been a good week.
Keep riding,
P.S. Did anyone else notice that cars were even nastier than usual to bicylists on Miami beach during Art Basil? One Miami Beach cop actually pulled up and told this blogger, “You better get out of the street with that bicycle.” Don’t worry -- I didn’t.
