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West Miami defers bicycle and pedestrian safety plan after presentation; staff to hold resident workshop
Summary
After a consultant presentation on crash data and conceptual street changes, the City of West Miami commission voted to defer adoption of a bicycle and pedestrian safety plan and requested a public workshop to vet alternatives and potential impacts on neighborhood streets.
A plan to improve walking and bicycling in the City of West Miami was presented to the city commission on Jan. 14, but commissioners agreed the draft needs more public vetting and deferred action.
Juan Calderon, principal in charge at Cultural Engineering Group, opened the presentation by describing the plan's goals and funding: the project was supported through the Miami‑Dade Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) Municipal Grants Program and seeks to "enhance connectivity, safety, and accessibility" on city roadways. Calderon said the project team conducted walking audits and community outreach before assembling recommended actions.
Consultants presented data intended to justify the proposed changes. A project presenter summarized the crash record, saying, "So we found, from 2020 to 2024, 2,500 crashes," and showed heat maps concentrated on Southwest 8th Street, Southwest 67th Avenue and Southwest 24th Street. Survey results presented by staff reported roughly 200 responses and identified sidewalk improvements, safer intersections and bicycle facilities as the highest priorities among respondents.
The conceptual alternatives included a roundabout at Southwest 16th Street and 67th Avenue with bike lanes on all approaches; midblock crossings and shoulder bike lanes on corridors such as Southwest 12th Street; lane eliminations and traffic circles on Solania/Sylvania Boulevard to reduce cut‑through traffic; and measures intended to avoid removing mature trees. Consultant Steven Gonzales stressed tree preservation, saying, "if we don't need to cut down a tree, we don't wanna cut down the tree."
City staff and commissioners raised concerns about moving conceptual designs directly to a commission vote without broader resident engagement. City Manager (name not stated in the record) said, "But the first place is not the commission where we should have this conversation...so I'd rather stop this now instead of just trying to get this through right now," and asked that the item be deferred for a workshop with residents and further coordination with the manager's TPO task force. The presenter responded that the materials shown were concepts meant to "explore ideas" and were not final designs.
A motion to defer the item so staff could schedule resident workshops and return with a more developed proposal was made, seconded and approved by voice vote.
Next steps: staff and the consultant team will arrange a community workshop and return to the commission with outcomes of that engagement before the commission considers formal adoption or authorization to pursue implementation funding.
