Ironman 2014 - Disaster for Sunday traffic (Miami, Golden Glades: neighborhood, construction, to live in)

[ElGuito]

I consider myself a man of patience and if there is no immediate danger I stop to analyze as many things I can, but in this case, several thousands, maybe tens of thousand of people and me, very frustrated.
I also think I watch, listen and read nes regularly. The was no mention of this event, at least on the live newscasts.

The thing is, many, many people found this morning all the bridges crossing the Miami River - blocked for this event, as far as I could tell and others that I heard, from the NW 27th Avenue, 22nd Avenue, 17th Avenue, 7th Avenue.
From what we found out the only way to cross the river is to get on the SR 836.
From about 6am and still going at 1:52pm.
I was able to get out of the building, on a convenience store trip that normally takes all of 15 minutes: 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Aside of traffic jam, I saw several verbal altercations between people stuck, no way to backtrack, honking as I have ever heard.

I had to negotiate with 4 authority officers, to let me thru, on a small side street just to turn into my driveway.

Short lived thread, since it won't happen until next year, but, in my opinion poor planning in announcing it, and did they had, absolutely had to choose a route that crosses and blocks every single bridge over the River!?

[hurricaneMan1992]

I only found out about it because I saw them setting up the transition area on Friday. So fortunately I knew about is, but I don't recall it being in the news either, Sounds like better planning and notification to the public is in order. The bike route went along highway 27 all the way out to the Everglades, basically dividing Miami-Dade in two! In the past they have used Old Cutler Road, I believe.

Perhaps the City/County needs to come up with some kind of app which notifies you of any events having City/County permits which could impact traffic flow? Also some advisory signs when you approach the areas with the traffic jams. Because if you don't know until you're already stuck in traffic, you're in for a frustrating wait...

[Cubanchic]

Welcome to Miami where poor planning is the norm for ANY event. You really can't even enjoy any event because of the sheer number of the crowds and mismanagement for local residents. It might have been worse if it were advertised, I didn't know about it and I do cross fit.

We don't do a lot of the events in Miami like the coconut art festival, wine and food festival, downtown fireworks ( only by boat and that is iffy now after last year) plus others because it is just too many people.

Seriously those that want to live in the brickell and downtown area are gonna be in for a real shock once all those new buildings are finished. Unless a real focus is started like right now on transit options the grid lock in this city will drive folks away, literally.

[oronzous]

more or less related, next Friday (31st) is the Halloween ride of Critical Mass.

[ElGuito]

Thank You oronzous, after 6pm, on Friday 31st, if You have to cross the River, avoid the Flagler Street, and 22nd Avenue bridges.
In City of Orange, CA the Police has a program, where You join voluntarily, and will notify by text (and eMail if You want) street closures - ongoing and future.

It was really unreasonable to put the Ironman bike segment on a route that would block every bridge over the River, trapping everyone on the South side of the River. The cyclist were on NW North River Drive. For those trapped on the South side the only way to go over to the North side was to get on the SR 836 at 27th Avenue, or continue all the way to the Airport.
Does not make any sense that they blocked the bridge on 22nd Avenue, since it goes above NW North River Drive, no risk of mixing cars and cyclists.
Also, on the few or only segments they were allowing cars to cross to the South side, no warning or advise that they could not make it back to the North. At some point we all were parked in the middle of the street, talking car to car as to what the heck was going on? Some approaching panic levels since they had gone out to return a movie, quick trip for groceries and had the rest of the family at the house.
And not their specific responsibility, but the Police crews at each blockade had no idea if the next intersection was also blocked.
We were able to negotiate pass thru three intersections, one of the Lady Cops told me they had been out there since 5am and it was clear that close to Noon their patience was wearing out.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Originally Posted by ElGuito

Thank You oronzous, after 6pm, on Friday 31st, if You have to cross the River, avoid the Flagler Street, and 22nd Avenue bridges.
In City of Orange, CA the Police has a program, where You join voluntarily, and will notify by text (and eMail if You want) street closures - ongoing and future.

I suggest we all write to the City and let them know that we desperately need this in Miami!

It's one aspect where Miami-Dede Transit is actually ahead of everybody else--they have had a text notification system for several years for when things are delayed or detoured.

[ElGuito]

Good suggestion hurricaneMan, I will join the alerts by text from the Miami-Dade Transit, if You know the Route # for your neighborhood or place of work, it is easy to select those and be prepared.

[Winchupuata]

So that's what happened this Sunday, I went to the beach around noon and the MacArthur causeway was really bad, saw hundreds of people running there.

[tallrick]

Good, tie up traffic as much as possible. People want events but complain when they make travel difficult. Maybe they should bring back the Miami Grand Prix?

[hurricaneMan1992]

Of course, I hasten to point out that if we had a more extensive mass transit system, and if it were safe to walk to the local convenience store, a significant fraction of people's trips wouldn't have been affected. Even more so if you have a notification system so people can change their transportation mode and/or postpone the trip to later in the day. Last night's Heat traffic combined with the construction didn't look pretty...and it doesn't even take events any more, there have already been 3 times just this week that I have seen backups on the MacArthur Causeway, and Brickell Ave. and Miami Ave. are jammed down to the Rickenbacker at least half of the time in the evening. Just wait until the mega construction in downtown and Park West begins in earnest...not to mention the 395 bridge construction and the Golden Glades rebuild!