Diaz-Balart Obtains Funding to Reduce Traffic Congestion
TRANSPORTATION: I-95 toll project put on fast track
LARRY LEBOWITZ, llebowitz@MiamiHerald.com
They arrived from Washington, armed with an oversized cardboard check for $62.9 million, symbolically kicking off a plan aimed at reducing traffic congestion and increasing mass transit on Interstate 95.
"This is a huge deal for South Florida," said U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, part of a group of officials who came Friday to South Florida. "This will assure that our citizens can spend more time with their families and less time stuck in traffic."
The region was one of five traffic-plagued metropolitan areas that received federal grants to accelerate plans to reduce congestion and enhance mass transit with technology and free-market principles.
The state Department of Transportation is planning to spend $248 million to convert the underused and unpopular High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on 21 miles of I-95 into all-electronic High Occupancy Toll express lanes.
The new configuration will be four "free" lanes and two barrier-separated "express" lanes in each direction from I-395 in downtown Miami to I-595 in Fort Lauderdale.
Express transit buses and three-or-more passenger vehicles will be allowed to use the old HOV lanes for free. Single-occupant cars equipped with SunPass transponders will be allowed to use the new express lanes. Prices will be modified every few minutes depending on traffic and posted on electronic signs as drivers approach the entry points.
Minor construction and restriping will start in a few weeks on northbound I-95 from downtown Miami to the Golden Glades interchange and could open by summer.
Bridge realignment work will delay opening of the southbound segment until fall 2009. Segments north of the Golden Glades to I-595 in Broward will open in 2010.
