This week, Miami New Times is publishing a guide to the eight of the worst public works projects in Miami-Dade, where bureaucrats and elected officials take pride in wasting millions in taxpayer dollars on crap residents have little-to-no use for. As we reveal each one of these boondoggles on Riptide, we're asking readers to send us their suggestions of the most asinine things local government has built in your neighborhoods. We'll pick the best one and send the winner a seven-day pass to try out the wonderfully terrible public bus and rail system provided by Miami-Dade Transit. Leave your suggestions in the comments or email them to Banana Republican. Enjoy!
Today, we take a stroll on the least used pedestrian and cyclist path in Miami-Dade County.
Metrorail
M-Path
Year
built:
1984
Cost:
$266,945
What's
dumb about it:
Throws good money after bad.
Why
it was built:
To create the illusion that Miami is friendly to pedestrians and
cyclists.
It's
afternoon rush hour this past October 28. We count three people
traveling on the 27-year-old, nine-mile strip of pavement known as
the M-Path, which runs mostly along busy South Dixie Highway, from
the mouth of the Miami River to Red Road. There's one guy on a
royal-blue Schwinn near the Coconut Grove Metrorail station and a
woman pushing a stroller with a baby at the Douglas Road station.
Although the M-Path was designed with cyclists and pedestrians in
mind, most days you'd be hard-pressed to find either.
That's
because of heavy vehicular traffic and a gauntlet of 21 dangerous
intersections. There aren't even signs warning drivers to slow down
or stop at crosswalks. Most
cyclists avoid the M-Path. "Last time I was on it was three months
ago," Miami Bike Scene blogger Rydel Deed says. "On days you ride
the M-Path, you can't let your guard down. The M-Path sucks."
Transit
Miami blogger Tony Garcia, another critic, says the M-Path shows that
planners give priority to motorists. "Our transportation system
tends to be mediocre when it comes to all other modes besides cars."
The path could be great for nonmotorists, but "it seems like it
goes nowhere," he says.
Now
transportation officials are wasting $4.5 million more. They are
building a pedestrian bridge that will link the M-Path at Red Road to
the Dadeland North Metrorail station and the South Dade Trail, a
million-dollar, 20-mile urban path to Florida City. The bridge is
slated to open in December.
Wrong
solution, Deed says. "At the very least, paint the
crosswalks green so people in cars can see there is a path in front
of them," he suggests. "That is something that is so inexpensive
to do. I'd rather have that than spend millions on a bridge."
Guide to Trashing Taxpayers:
Marc Sarnoff's Circle
South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center
Interstate 95 Golden Glades Flyover
Hialeah Okeechobee Road Landmark
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