Call me a dork, but I decided to take five minutes out of my morning ride to shoot a video of the Rickenbacker Causeway on Saturday. The video shows about 180 cyclists riding within this 5 minute period. Amazing!
It seems like every weekend there are more and more cyclists riding. Bicycles easily outnumber cars. When are we going to begin closing down a lane on the Rickenbacker Causeway on weekend mornings for cyclists, runners, and rollerbladers? Please ask Commissioner Gimenez by sending him an email.
We here at Transit Miami are really happy about the initiative the County has shown to improve safety on the Rickenbacker Causeway. The suggestions for improvement are much appreciated and we look forward to seeing them implemented. Our only hesitation is perhaps the actual implementation of the improvements. We must have a long term vision and a master plan for the Rickenbacker Causeway. We will discuss all of this in an upcoming post. Regardless, we are very encouraged and would like to thank Commissioners Ralph Cabrera and Carlos Gimenez and the County Public Works Department for their excellent work.
Below is a summary of suggested improvements:
- “Bike Only” lane at toll plaza will be 365 days a year, no longer available to motorists during hours of high volume traffic.
- PWD will conduct and evaluate results of speed study in order to determine whether the speed limits need to be modified and implement necessary signage changes. Volume and speed test will commence after July 4th.
- Installation of permanent electronic ”Your Speed” information signs/speed radar light boards along causeway, which will alert vehicles to their traveling speeds.
- Re-design width, and restripe Crandon Boulevard vehicle travel lanes, from the east end of Bear Cut Bridge to the Village limits, inbound and outbound (north/south side), widen existing width of the dedicated bike path. Both 12′ car lanes will be reduced to 11′ thus widening the 5′ bike path to 7′.
- Multi-use trail along north side of causeway from Bear Cut Bridge to William Powell Bridge. Cyclists can use Mast Academy signal to cross causeway, then use aforementioned path to reach Sewer Beach Road. (Rusty Pelican / Marine Stadium)
- Re-design, widen to 12′, stripe, and sign the existing ped-path/bike lane beginning at the north side (outbound travel) of the West Bridge bike underpass (along condominium wall/I-95 north/south flyover ramp) to Brickell Avenue.
- SunPass only lanes will be added with a barrier at the entrance to Key Biscayne. The county emphasized that SunPass lanes would not encourage speeding and stated “the Rickenbacker is a causeway NOT an expressway”.
- Modify lanes leading into the toll plaza on SE 26 Road/Rickenbacker Causeway from Brickell Avenue through the toll facility to Hobie Island, to accommodate and improve access to bicycle lanes.
- Design and install a cyclist/pedestrian traffic light crossing at Hobie Island (Windsurfer Beach). The installation of a traffic light, striping, and signage will allow cyclists to turn from Eastbound to Westbound prior to reaching the toll plaza. (Cyclists will no longer be allowed to make a U-turns near the toll plaza, they will be expected to make U-Turns at new light crossing or under the West Bridge. Expect this enforced Winter/Spring 2011.)
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