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The Key Biscayne Village Council has proposed a toll for bicyclists crossing the Rickenbacker causeway. The council wants Miami-Dade County to erect a wall on the Rickenbacker that would separate bike traffic for vehicle traffic, and has suggested a bike toll as a way to fund the project.
Several bicyclist have been hit by cars in the past few years, and two wrecks involving drunk drivers resulted in fatalities.
According to an Islander News story as tweeted by Miami Bike Scene, The Village Council voted on the measure last week. Key Biscayne’s attorney will now draft a letter to Miami-Dade asking for the construction of the wall, and that it be funded, at least in part, by a bicycle toll.
The idea has taken off like a lead balloon in the local bike community.
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“Making cyclists pay a toll for their own safety is akin to a punishment for merely riding a bike,” Transit Miami‘s Craig Chester told Huffington Post Miami.
No exact free has been decided, nor has any method to actually collect the tolls.
Tolling bicyclists tend to be rare, but a minor controversy was set off this year when New York City proposed tolling bikers on certain bridges.
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