63rd Street Bridge openings may be cut in half

Miami Beach is asking the Coast Guard to cut in half the openings of the 63rd Street bridge over Indian Creek at Allison Island to alleviate traffic congestion.

City commissioners asked administration to work with the office of US Rep. Frederica Wilson “to engage in the formal process with the US Coast Guard to modify the current operating of the 63rd Street drawbridge schedule from opening on the hour and half hour to only opening on the hour to assist with alleviating vehicle congestion due to drawbridge openings,” a city resolution says.

The bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge with an 11-foot vertical clearance, according to federal documents.

The item from Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez met comments from Commissioner Tanya Bhatt as she expressed support.

“I just wanted to clarify I’m all for all-hands-on-deck, no pun intended, on trying to get better control of the 63rd Street bridge,” Ms. Bhatt said. She said one of her first tasks when she was elected was working with individuals and the transportation department to get data needed to make a formal request to the Coast Guard to seek better bridge opening times.

Ms. Bhatt elaborated on the impact of the bridge’s schedule.

“There is not a chance that moving your yacht or your party boat takes precedence over getting to work on time or making it to a doctor’s appointment or getting to school,” she said. “In order to have that conversation with the Coast Guard, you can’t just pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, this is ridiculous, do something.’ We need to go with data.”

She elaborated on the process to date.

“Please know that it is not that we’re sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting for some miracle to happen with the voters to just vanish and the bridge to stay closed,” she said. “There is a process that has to happen, because you need to go with a plan backed up by data.”

“Because this is such an arduous process,” said Commissioner Rosen Gonzalez, “we thought we would throw caution to the wind and have a conference call with the congresswoman, which we did, and they want this resolution. They already have a meeting planned with the Coast Guard….

Sometimes we can circumvent bureaucracy and do something politically, which is … the avenue that I’m taking.”

The request in the resolution, said Commissioner Rosen Gonzalez, is “instead of every half hour on the hour, we’re going to ask for only one opening per hour, which would cut the problem in half.”