The Palmetto Expressway....by Nothingman

[Lost in Translation]

Originally Posted by compelled to reply

I wonder how cixel ended up doing?

Well, if he did move, at least he doesn't come back here and post his anti-Miami venom. Got to respect him for that. Living here and venting on this forum is one thing, but to move somewhere else and continue the negativity diatribe is a serious type of pyschosis that needs medical attention.

[stcp]

Why not extend I-75 to the Golden Glades interchange over the Palmetto and sign the rest of the Palmetto as I-775? The northern part of the expressway as well as the 836 interchange and the section between 874 and Sunset Drive need uprading and the Golden Glades interchange needs to be completely rebuilt anyway. Most of the Palmetto is or soon will be interstate grade anyway and I-75 can end at a more convenient place than Hialeah Gardens and the Dadeland/Kendall area will have an interstate connection.

[dmnyc]

I moved here 7 months ago... The most insane driving experience I had here was heading south on i95. I was late for an appointment in coral gables and it was around 3:30 PM. Around the SW2nd st exit (I think), I was in the dual use lane intending on driving straight, to US1. All of a sudden this ****ing moron truck driver realizes he's about to miss his exit and switches about 3 lanes at once all the way to exit right in front of me. I was walled in and had no choice but to get off at the exit, as I would have either rammed into this idiot or caused a pile up. When I got off the exit, I was dumped right into DEADLOCKED traffic. I don't think I ever felt that mad before. I wanted to stop and get out of my car and ask this guy what the **** was wrong with him. argh But about the palmetto... I used to take it palmetto to work every day in hialeah on 49th (and palmetto). It wasn't so bad for me and I took it around 3 PM every day westbound. There are dangerous drivers but the traffic was almost always fast. I would just get in the left most lane and cruise out there. But I assume the traffic is much worse on the north south portion lower down.

[debbieny2002]

You lost me at the phonebook throwing

[Nolefan34]

A major design flaw was ending I-95 in downtown at US1. They should have built I-95 all the way down to Dadeland or Homestead along side US1. They should have also built I-75 all the way down to the 112 Airport Expressway so that commuters coming from western Broward County don't need to use the Dolphin to get to downtown.

One easy upgrade they need to do immediately is to add EXIT ONLY lanes at the offramps from the Pametto to Dolphin both northbound and southbound. Those offramps are very poorly designed. They could easily add EXIT ONLY lanes since there is space on each shoulder. They could also extend the lanes between the Tamiami Trail on-ramp and the SR-836 offramp so that cars don't bunch up trying to merge onto the expressway and so people have time to get over.

Part of the problem is that the expressway system was designed in the 60's and 70's, before the area exploded in growth. Back then, 2-lanes each direction (Palmetto and Shula) was adequate for the population in Kendall. Today, its completely outdated since the population is double what it was in the 70's. They plan these expressways out, and it takes them another decade to build them.

[culturedmom]

Is driving the Palmetto a pain-in-the-butt experience? Yes. They have been doing construction on the Palmetto since I was born in '77, hahaha. But as a native of Hialeah who has moved all over the country (VA, DC, AR, AZ) and driven most of it, it is no different then any other highway of any other major city. However, there is always more then one way to get somewhere if you know where you are going. Besides, any place that has Cuban food along the way makes it worth it.