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From the March 12
Upper Keys
Reporter:
Corps hears about
the stretch
Many say no to
issuing dredge-and-fill permits
BY
ANN HENSON, Staff Writer
The majority of people attending this week's Army
Corps of Engineers meeting recommended that the federal agency deny a
permit for a proposed redo of the 18-mile stretch.
More than 150 people attended the meeting held
Wednesday, March 10 at the Westin Beach Resort.
Of the 52 speakers
during the four-hour meeting, 37 advised the Corps to deny the Florida
Department of Transportation's (DOT) dredge-and-fill permit.
DOT's $180 million plan, approved by Gov. Jeb
Bush more than two years ago, includes widening the two-lane road,
putting a concrete barrier between the lanes, improving the northbound
shoulder so it can be used as a second lane during emergencies and
replacing the 60-year-old Jewfish Creek Bridge.
Another part of the project will replace an
intersection at Card Sound Road and County Road 905 with a radius curve.
"We had to let
people have their say," said the Corps Project Manager Ken Huntington.
"Some may not like our decision, but we did hear
what they had to say."
He added that a lot of work remained before the
Corps gave a thumbs up or down to the project.
Emotions ran high,
but there were some light moments.
Jim Duquesnel, who identified himself as a
professional biologist with a government agency, said he favored an
entirely different option of transporting people from the mainland to
the Keys.
"I vote for the alternative n a Florida City to
Key West catapult," he joked.
Another audience member did not find any humor in
the topic in general.
Betty Conklin of Miami asked the Corps
representatives how they would feel if they had a teenager driving the
stretch during weekends.
She said she knows exactly how they would feel,
because her teenagers drive the stretch to get to the family's second
home in the Keys.
"I have them call me to tell me they made it all
right," she said, adding that she wanted the permit approved and the
work to begin.
David Boyd of Key Largo said he thought the Corps
would be breaking federal laws if they approved the permit without
requiring a study of the secondary and cumulative impacts.
"We've exceeded our carrying capacity and we
don't have infrastructure to handle what we have now," he said.
"The 1994 Environmental Impact Statement doesn't
address Card Sound Road's impacts or indirect impacts of induced traffic
and all the things you are required to look at when you use federal
dollars."
Those against the project pointed out the
explosive growth in Florida City and Homestead.
"There's going to be 50,000 new residents in
Florida City and Homestead and they will all come to the Keys on the
weekend," said James Spencer of the Upper Keys.
"You'll increase traffic density and have more
pedestrian and bicycle accidents. There will be more pressure to widen
from road from Plantation Key to Marathon."
One thing that everyone agreed upon was that
safety improvements must be made.
Some suggested the Cape Cod alternative of a berm
separating the lanes, a study of why the accidents occurred and better
enforcement of speed limits.
"I've been coming to the Keys since 1927," said
John Higgstrom. "I've seen what development does. I'm only asking one
thing n stop the killing on U.S. 1 and I will pay for the first concrete
barrier at MM 106."
From
the March 15 Key West Citizen:
Upper
Keys residents continue to oppose stretch widening
More than 100
residents turn out to gauge Army Corps' reaction to FDOT proposal
BY STEVE GIBBS
keysnews.com
KEY LARGO — The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week asked for input on the Florida
Department of Transportation's proposed road improvement plan for the
18-Mile Stretch.
They got an
earful from folks who reside from Homestead to Key West.
Many speakers
from the Upper Keys were opposed to alterations to the roadway and
Jewfish Creek Bridge that would enhance traffic flow into the Keys,
while residents and business interests from the Middle and Lower Keys
favored a four-lane highway.
The long-debated
plan calls for a concrete barrier down the center of U.S. 1 with a
10-foot high fence lining both sides of the road, a second northbound
lane with rumble strips for emergency evacuation use, a 75-foot tall
fixed Jewfish Creek Bridge and an elevated approach to the bridge across
a causeway over Lake Surprise.
Mike Waack of
Ocean Isle Estates called the FDOT project "a crime against humanity."
He pointed out
that Monroe's 80,000 residents are supplemented by 120,000 tourists a
day. He pointed out the series of closed beaches due to pollution, and
that 80 percent of the coral just offshore are dead.
"The
stretch-widening project will bring more people into the Keys every
day," he said. "All of those visitors will pee and poop here."
Although
improving hurricane evacuation time has been the foundation upon which
the road improvement plan has been based, some objected that, given new
development at the top of the road in South Dade, a new environmental
impact study should be completed before the Corps issues a permit.
"Hurricane
evacuation is a non-issue," said local resident Frank Hawkins. "The
problem is in Florida City."
Hawkins pointed
to plans to build 6,000 new homes near Card Sound Road as an example of
the huge rate of growth now being seen in the Florida City area.
Large chunks of
farm land along the Florida Turnpike also are being developed.
"FDOT wants to
proceed without a primary impact study," Hawkins said. "Our reefs are
dying but FDOT wants to bring more people into the Keys."
Army Corps Maj.
Jeff Storrs told the 120 people who attended the three-hour meeting that
the Corps, as a regulator and permitting agency, is "neither for or
opposed to any application."
The state road
department must gain approval in the form of a permit from the national
agency before it is allowed to begin the $170 million project.
Others said FDOT
has ignored simple solutions to the safety issues on the 18-Mile
Stretch, the site of numerous head-on collisions over the years.
"Speeding could
be controlled by an electric monitoring device," suggested Joan Mowery
Barrow, a Key Largo resident and longtime member of the Upper Keys
Citizens Association. "Tickets would slow people down." |
