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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSEOPW-CRA-2003-09-29-Discussion Item 4OFFICIAL REPORT • Joe Kohl, Dover Kohl Presentation on the lowering of I -395 ITEM 4 SEE 2 9 2.003 DISCUSSED FKR /ap SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN /PARK WEST AND OMNI COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCIES INTER - OFFICE MEMORANDUM To: Chairman Arthur E. Teele Date: ,SEP 29 20 : And Members of the CRA Board Subject: Presentation by CRA Consultant Dover Kohl on.Plan Options to Lower I -395 From:Frank K. Rollason References: Executive Director Enclosures: ITEM 4 SEP 2 9 2003 Mr. Joe Kohl of Dover Kohl, CRA Planning Consultant, has requested to appear before the CRA Board of Directors to present observations and possible alternatives to plans being considered related to the lowering or raising of I -395 and how they see the impacts of plans being considered. Attached, please find copy of Mr. Kohl's e -mail to the CRA staff, on July 11, 2003, enumerating those concerns and my follow -up e -mail of July 14, 2003. Wherein, I inform the CRA Board that we will invite Mr. Kohl to make a presentation of those concerns at the September 29, 2003 .Board of Directors Meeting. DISCUSSED From: Rollason, Fran Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 6:44 AM • ITEM 4 To: Teele, Arthur (Commissioner); Winton, John L. (Commissioner); Regalado, Tomas (Commissioner); Sanchez, Joe (Commissioner); Gonzalez, Angel (Commissioner) Cc: McGibbon, Karen; Mascarenas, Maria; Walker, Jason; Balzebre, Frank; Crapp Jr, Tony; Zorrilla, Teresa; Wright, Steve; Castaneda, Frank; Gelabert- Sanchez, Ana; 'jkohl ©doverkohl.com'; Martinez, Esperanza; Villacorta, James H; Arscott, Chelsa; Grant, Neko Subject: 1 -395 Fifth Committee Meeting Below, and attached, please see observations of the Kimly -Horn plan for lowering 1 -395 by SEOPW CRA Master Plan consultant Joe Kohl. He certainly brings up some good points as it pertains to the CRA area of Overtown and warrant consideration. He also asks, should the CRA lobby for the at -grade boulevard alternative which he is suggesting? 1 will schedule Mr. Kohl to make a presentation at the September 29, 2003 CRA Board meeting wherein he can provide more information on the alternative that he is suggesting, Frank. Original Message From: Joe Kohl [mailto:jkohl ©doverkohl.com] Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 7:36 PM To: Rollason, Frank; Arscott, Chelsa Cc: Victor Dover; Gelabert- Sanchez, Ana; Nardi, Maria Subject: RE: I -395 Fifth Committee Meeting Frank, Chelsa, I attended the 1 -395 MPO Subcommittee meeting this week as you requested. Both Victor and I are delighted that the discussion of removing the elevated highways from Overtown is finally happening, and farther along than we thought. The subcommittee advised FDOT to continue their design /public participation process_pursuing the trenched highway scenario. FDOT and Kimley -Horn made it clear that their designed scenario as illustrated will likely change through the process. They never really showed anything to the community that was easy to understand, just PowerPoint images on a small screen behind the committee's seats, but we have reviewed a drawing from Kimley -Horn that we have in our office. Our initial concerns from the drawing are: SEP 2 9 2003 1. NW 3rd Avenue becomes disconnected with the Kimley -horn design, further isolating and separating the northern part of Overtown from the downtown. 2. The access on and off of the trenched 1 -395 has some unusual ramps and are assuming that the NE 1st Ave and NE 2nd Ave remain one -way streets. If these streets become two -way, it may make the ramps Tess complicated. 3. The width of the Right -of -way needed for Kimley- Horn's design is wider that the existing 1 -395 Bridges, further separating the north from the south. Regarding the cost and the design: Despite the fact that FDOT has to examine various alternatives, the MPO subcommittee seemed to favor the open trench design that Kimley Horn presented. Kimley -Horn estimates that the cost for their design is about $500 Million. $100 Million will be coming from FDOT /Federal Highway Authority and the balance ($400 million ?) will be paid through bonds based on TIF, One alternative that the FDOT has already dismissed and will likely not want to reconsider, might possibly be less expensive than the 400 million, and better for Overtown, Parkwest and Omni. This alternative design follows the tradition of true divided boulevards like those found in Europe (Diagonal Blvd in Barcelona Spain, Champs Elysees in Paris France) and in US Cities such as Brooklyn and Washington DC. With an at -grade boulevard, there is no costly and time intensive trenching or bridge building. The through traffic remains in the middle and the frontage lanes along the side handle local traffic and parking. See the attached word file that shows the European Boulevards carry as much traffic as 1 -395. £ ISCUSSED • We have no cost estimate for the at -grade Boulevard alternative, but my impression is that it has not been examined as a serious alternative by the traffic consultants due to a lack of understanding about the function of Boulevards, and a bias that may exist in the traffic engineering profession toward this complex type of roadway. If this alternative would turn out to be cheaper than what FDOT expects the City to pay for the trenching alternative, and FDOT remains unsupportive of this alternative, wouldn't it be better for the City to pursue it without FDOT directly in charge of the effort? Is there any reason the CRA should not lobby for this alternative? -Joe Joseph A. Kohl Dover, Kohl & Partners 1571 Sunset Drive Coral Gables, FL 33143 (3 05) 666 -0446 Phone (305) 666-0360 Fax • • DISCUSSED • 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 • 0 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 AADT of 1 -395 120,000-' 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 Diagonal • Arago' • Champs Elysees, Place Clemenceau Champs Elysees, Rue Lincoln IS uss