Traffic study complete
By Commissioner Gerry Goodman

In response to the article in the Miami Herald referring to traffic on A1A (Collins Avenue) in Sunny Isles Beach, a City incorporated within Miami-Dade County more than 9 years ago, I have to disagree with the findings that most of the traffic is caused by the residents of our City. I don’t know when they took the survey or how they took the survey, I, who live in Sunny Isles Beach for 20 years and serve as a commissioner for the past 5 years, can observe that the traffic on A1A is not our local traffic.

Most of the traffic flows not only north and south, but also east and west from all of our surrounding communities, Bal Harbor, Surfside, Aventura, North Miami Beach, Golden Beach, and Eastern Shores. Vehicles use the bridges ( 163 rd Street and William Lehman) to enter our City and pass through to other points north and south. Also, our neighbors to the north, Hallandale and Hollywood, use our City to go south or return north. Another important note in reference to traffic is Haulover Beach, one of our largest public parks in Miami-Dade County. Most of the traffic must flow through Bal Harbor and Sunny Isles Beach to get to the marina, golf course, restaurant, boat ramp, and beach with picnic areas.

Being that Collins Avenue is our only main thoroughfare and that we can’t expand our roadway, we must learn to live with this situation and continue to make changes to help move traffic. There are several reasons why traffic slows down on Collins Avenue, including trucks parking to load and unload, buses stopping on the street (there are no bus pullouts), and vehicles entering from the many curb cuts for ingress and egress onto Collins Avenue.

I would like to remind our citizens to please obey the 20 m.p.h speed limit on internal streets for the safety of pedestrians including our residents and tourists who have the right of way in the crosswalks. Jaywalking is illegal on Collins Avenue; please use the crosswalks for safety. We have no traffic lights on our internal streets, instead we have stop signs, please obey these signs. With all these problems with traffic I must commend our police department who oversee traffic, safety, etc. and do an excellent job for everyone living, working, and visiting our City.

The Traffic Safety Committee meets once a month. The meetings are advertised on the clerk’s calendar, on Cable Channel 77 SIB TV, the website (www.sibfl.net), and in the Sunny Isles Beach Sun. All are welcome to the meeting to voice your opinions regarding the goings on in our City. Any questions or comments can be directed to my number at 305.792.1752.

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