Central Parkway dropped from metro Miami plan

Central Expressway is the major north-south route in red

The Central Parkway is being put on the back shelf at the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) following a vote against it at the area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MDMPO) May 31. MDX officials are convinced the highway is needed and that eventually it will be built, but they won't take the project further until it gains political support. The present 5-year workplan of MDX provides $1.6m for project development of the highway - largely sketch plans of alternatives and public consultation.

But that has been forestalled by the MDMPO vote.

The Central Parkway is a 12.5km (8mi) north-south link between the Airport Expressway (FL112) near Miami International Airport and the Gratigny Expressway (FL924) with interchanges at NW54th, NW79th, and NW103rd streets.

"Central" is accurate. The location of the road is certainly in the center of the southeast Florida metro area. The Central Parkway would be midway between I-95 to the east and FL826 (Palmetto Expressway) to the west - about 6km (3.8mi) from each.

The overused term "Parkway" is especially inappropriate in the case of the Central Parkway because a less parklike environment would be difficult to imagine. Most of the route is gritty commercial development - warehousing, factories, wholesaling and retailing. Not a tree or shrub to be seen anywhere here. The commercial development located there because the corridor has always had the major railroad in from the north. It used to be a commercial strip where the freight railroads pushed freight cars off onto different businesses' sidings. And it still handles some rail freight but of course most of the deliveries and pickups are by truck nowadays.

The plan for the Central Parkway is for it to be almost entirely elevated, either atop the railroad lines or immediately to its east. It would then be grade separated from the many sidings and local streets in the area - approximately $900m in cost.

Opposition

Opposition to the highway is a mix of anti-roads sentiment and racial politics. The residential areas immediately away from the commercial strip are 80 percent or so black in a metro area with a hispanic majority.

The MIAMI HERALD reported the vote: "Black community opposition, led by County Commissioner Betty Ferguson and Opa-locka leaders, killed the Central Parkway proposal last week..." (2004-06-01) It isn't just race however. MDX chairman Darryl Sharpton is black and a strong supporter of the Central Parkway - at least he favored an orderly process in which the authority would prepare the case for the road, seek discussion, and examine alternatives.

Chief opponent Ferguson is plain anti-road. She said at the MPO meeting: "We need to stop building roads that destroy our communities and get people on the buses and the Metrorail and the Tri-Rail. It's dumb to keep building roads. We have to stop being dumb."

But the viability of this area depends on roads, and at the moment it is a congested, slowly moving grid of signalized arterials. Governor Jeb Bush's appointee to the MDMPO Ronald Krogold argued that only road improvements would help tackle road congestion in the area, and support the local economy. But he and MDX chair Darryl Sharpton provided the only votes for the Central Parkway to go forward. All the rest sided agin it with Ferguson. TOLLROADSnews 2004-06-15