Kendall Parkway Mostly Supported by Residents, With Conditions
You could hear it in the voices of the people who spoke at the Kendall Parkway Town Hall meeting, they want traffic relief. And Mayor Carlos Gimenez and MDX executive director Javier Rodriguez put on a good dog and pony show to satisfy people’s distress with traffic congestion in West Kendall. Many if not all spoke in support of the idea of expanding the 836 West along SW 8th Street then South along 167th Avenue.
One of the first questions from a concerned resident was how much would the toll cost. Gimenez said it would cost the same as taking the Turnpike with Javier Rodriguez pointing out that the stretch would most likely have two tolling points along the 14 mile extension. No exact toll rates were given.
Diagrams and pictures of proposed roadway showed a six lane highway, three lanes in each direction with space along side the corridor for future use and space for possible Metro Rail. MDX would run and operate Express Buses along shoulder of highway.
Many others who spoke asked the Mayor and MDX to move the south bound leg further west away from their homes along SW 167th Avenue with some asking why they did not plan to connect to the newly widened Krome Avenue. Points were voiced with regard to noise, pollution and health concerns along with added traffic in the west end of Kendall.
Thank you to Michael Rosenberg, President of the Kendall Federation of Home Owners Associations (KFHA) for providing video below showing how close the proposed Kendall Parkway toll road would be to homes in the area of 167th Avenue.
MDX’s calculations show that 10,000 cars a day would move West along Kendall Drive, Miller and Bird Road in the morning to access the toll road instead of Turnpike. MDX indicated that the traffic would split at or about 142nd Avenue. This new movement would provide great traffic relief and improve “quality of life” for Kendall residents echoed Mayor Gimenez.
Of course there were many concerns voiced that this project may open the door to future urban sprawl, development and congestion. And those are very valid concerns which we cannot disagree with. Below is copy of Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations resolution regarding their concerns with this project.
Pain is a powerful motivator and it seems to have given way to a this idea.
Carlos Garcia,
co-chair of Roll Back Tolls
I read some of the comments and the last one was back in November of 2017. Also read the website April 2018 monthly archive. Whay can we do? Is the petition still going on? It seems everyone just like me is sick and tired of the abuse. One thing we need for sure to start doing is notify friends, family, co-workers, and everyone we come in contact with about organizing and letting our public politicians by way of advising them that our votes will not go to them if they don’t do someone about (as we now some are in the back pockets of mdx) we will make a statement with our votes. Reach everyone you now via social media.