The Post Hurricane Short Range Transportation Study West Dade Area Task Final Recommendations Prepared For The Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization August, 1995 The Post Hurricane Short Range Transportation Study West Dade Area Task Final Recommendations Prepared For The Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization August, 1995 The Dade County Post Hurricane Short Range Transportation Study West Dade Area Task Final Recommendations Prepared For The Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization III NW 1st Street, Suite 910 Miami, Florida By Barton-Aschman Associates Fort Lauderdale, Florida August, 1995 This study was prepared for the Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization and funded by the Florida Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................... v 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................... 1 2.0 ROADWAY AND SIGNAL DATA ..................................... 4 3.0 PROGRAMMED ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS AND TRANSIT SERVICE . 25 3.1 Roadway Improvements ........................................ 25 3.2 Transit Service ................................................ 25 4.0 ARTERIAL LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS) ANALYSES ..................... 33 4.1 Existing Operational Roadway Levels of Service ..................... 33 4.2 LOS D and LOS E Thresholds for Study Area ....................... 36 5.0 FREEWAY LEVEL OF SERVICE ANALySES ........................... 38 6.0 EXISTING AND FUTURE LAND USE CONDITIONS ..................... 40 6.1 Historical Trends .............................................. 40 6.2 Short-Term Growth Opportunities ................................ 42 7.0 METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS CONSIDERATIONS .................. 46 7.1 Background Conditions ......................................... 46 7.2 Level of Service Standards ....................................... 46 7.3 Preparation of Development Traffic ............................... 50 7.4 Analysis Procedures ............................................ 74 7.5 Magnitude of Need ............................................. 76 7.6 Role of Transit and Transportation Demand Management ............. 77 8.0 IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES ...................................... 79 8.1 Overview of Problems and Needs ................................. 79 8.2 Pending and Planned Transportation Improvement Projects ............ 81 8.3 Recommended Improvement Strategies ............................ 82 9.0 PROPOSED IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS ............................... 87 9.1 Highway Capacity Actions ....................................... 87 9.2 Transit Capacity Actions ........................................ 91 9.3 Other Improvement Actions ..................................... 91 10.0 COST BENEFIT ANALySIS .......................................... 97 10.1 Cost of Transportation Improvements ............................. 97 10.2 Right-of-Way Acquisitions ...................................... 99 10.3 General Economic Benefits ..................................... 104 APPENDIX A TABLES OF RECOMMENDED IMPROVEMENTS .......... 110 APPENDIXB NARRA TIVE DESCRIPTION OF BENEFITS AND ROW COSTS ..................................... 136 11 Figures Page 1. Study Area Location ................................................... 2 2. Location of Count Stations .............................................. 5 3. TIP Improvements in West Dade Area ..................................... 27 4. West Dade Area Metro-bus and Metro-rail Routes ............................ 30 5. West Dade Area Existing Freeway and Arterial Levels of Service ................. 35 6. Population Change 1990 to 2000 ......................................... 43 7. Employment Change 1990 to 2000 ........................................ 44 8. West Dade Area Vested Development Sites ................................. 53 9. West Dade Area Deficient Capacity Roadway Segments ....................... 72 111 Tables Page 1. Count Station Data .................................................... 7 2. County Intersections ................................................... 8 3. State Intersections ..................................................... 9 4. Milam Dairy Road: NW 74th Street to NW 7th Street South ................... 10 5. NW/SW 72nd Avenue: NW 12th Street East to Flagler Street ................... 11 6. NW 79th Avenue: NW 58th Street to NW 25th Street ........................ 12 7. Galloway Road (West 87th Avenue): NW 58th Street to SW 8th Street ........... l3 8. NW 97th Avenue: NW 25th Street to NW 12th Street ........................ 14 9. NW/SW 107th Avenue: NW 41st Street to SW 8th Street ...................... 15 10. NW 74th Street: NW 87th Avenue to SR 826 East ........................... 16 11. NW 58th Street: NW 97th Avenue to SR 826 East ........................... 17 12. NW 41st/36th Street: SR 821 West to Milam Dairy Road ...................... 18 l3. NW 25th Street: NW 117th Avenue to Milam Dairy Road ..................... 19 14. NW 12th Street: Galloway Road to NW 72nd Avenue ........................ 20 15. Flagler Street: West 114th Avenue to West 72nd Avenue ...................... 21 16. SW 8th Street: SR 821 West to SW 74th Avenue ............................ 22 17. West Dade Area TIP Capacity Improvements ................................ 26 18. West Dade Area Metro-Dade Bus Routes .................................. 28 19. M\"~'!"O-Dade County Traffic Circulation LOS Standard ......................... 31 20. Art_Plan Operational Level of Service Summary ............................. 34 21. Free_Tab Operational Level of Service Summary ............................. 39 22. West Dade Traffic Zone Data ............................................ 41 23. Existing Operational Link Levels of Service . 47 24. Existing Operational Intersection Levels of Service ........................... 48 25. West Dade Area Vested Development Trips ................................. 51 26. West Dade Area Impact Fee Trips ........................................ 54 27. Assignment of Vested Development Trips .................................. 59 28. Assignment ofImpact Fee Development Trips ............................... 61 29. Art_Plan LOS Summary Including New Trips ............................... 70 30. Free_Tab Summary Including New Trips ................................... 73 31. Summary of Overcapacity Segments ...................................... 80 32. Type ofImprovement Action Indicated .................................... 81 33. Potential Transportation Network Improvement Strategies ...................... 83 34. Art_Plan Summary Including Recommended Improvements ..................... 88 35. Free_Tab Summary Including Recommended Improvements .................... 90 36. Summary of Proposed Improvement Actions ................................ 92 37. Summary ofImprovement Costs ........................................ 103 IV EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The West Dade Task Area is located in the west-central portion of Dade County, Florida. It is bounded by NW/SW 72nd Ave. (Milam Dairy Road) on the east, SW 8th St. (Tamiami Trail) on the south, the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike (SR 821) on the west, and NW 74th St. on the north. This area of approximately 27 square miles has shown a rapid rate of low density growth since Hurricane Andrew struck southern Dade County in August of 1992. Many businesses that were once located in the southern portion ofthe County have decided to relocate to West Dade which is further inland from the coast line. The tremendous growth, especially in employment, has exacerbated the traffic congestion on the roadway network in the study area. Although there are three limited access highways that traverse the region, the internal grid network of arterials is incomplete and creates a funnel through which most traffic must travel. To add to the traffic woes, 24 new large developments have received vested rights to construct warehouses, offices, retail space, single family, and multi-family structures in the West Dade Area. The vestment allows these developments to bypass the level of service (LOS) standards required by the Dade County Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP). These standards have been raised from LOS E to LO::,!) beginning in January 1, 1995. This means that many roadways in the study area, which were near the threshold of maximum acceptable capacity, are now considered to have unacceptable levels of congestion, even without the previously mentioned developments. It is also important to mention that many small developments and existing business expansions have already been approved for the West Dade area as well. These developments do not generate as many trips but the 133 different activities have at least some impact on the area's roadway network. Combined with the vested rights developments, there are expected to be more than 22,000 new PM peak hour trips generated over the next five years just from the approved sites. These trips would add to the existing 136,000 PM peak hour trips. (These numbers do not reflect the trips on the three expressways in the study area.) This analysis was structured to address only the needs of existing and other regulated or permitted new trips over the next five years. It is, of course, possible and likely that other new developments will be proposed and will make application for development approval. Such projects are not included in the analysis database for this project.