Commissioners order plan to reduce sidewalk backlog after resident appeals; department reports one crew for countywide repairs

A Miami-Dade resident who said sidewalks near her home are unsafe urged the committee to act; commissioners responded by directing the county's transportation department to identify funding and staffing to reduce a multi-year backlog.

During the committee's reasonable-opportunity public comment, Norma Busto described two years of disrepair in her neighborhood and said the county's case on the issue showed as "closed" online despite ongoing hazards. "It is so dangerous. It's lopsided and it's high," Busto said, adding that elderly neighbors with walkers cannot safely use the sidewalk.

Joseph Hernandez, interim director of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, told the committee the department performs sidewalk repairs in two ways: in-house crews for smaller jobs (50 "flags" or fewer) and contracts for larger stretches. Hernandez said the county currently has one dedicated sidewalk crew and has created temporary weekend teams by reallocating staff, but capacity is limited.

When asked for the size of the backlog, Hernandez said the county has more than 30,000 square yards of sidewalk needing replacement. Commissioners said that with one crew and only intermittent overtime crews the effort to clear the backlog would take years.

Chairman Rodriguez asked the department to identify how many crews would be needed if fully funded; the department estimated four crews would be appropriate. Rodriguez directed the mayor and department to identify funding sources to add three additional crews and to contract for surge work to address the accumulated backlog. The chair asked for a funding-plan update within 30 days to align with the county's budget process.

Commissioner Cohen Higgins, who reported 35 lights out in a small area of her district at a prior hearing, thanked staff for making immediate repairs and emphasized the urgency of basic government services: "It's a core function of government for us to be able to provide those lights," she said, also connecting safe sidewalks with the county's streetlight discussion.

Hernandez said the department and the county auditor had already identified process improvements, including moving away from paper routing and adding additional concrete vendors to speed repairs. Commissioners asked for district-by-district quantification of sidewalk needs; the director said those figures exist and will be provided to the chair's office.

The committee did not adopt an ordinance or exact appropriation at the meeting. Instead, commissioners directed DTPW to return within 30 days with an identified funding source to pay for three additional crews and contracting to reduce the backlog, with the intent that the additional contracts would sunset once the backlog is addressed and the permanent crew level reached.