Sustainable Keys
On Monday, May 26th, at the end of the Memorial Day weekend, a man-made and avoidable traffic jam was caused by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and their sub-contractors building the new Jewfish Creek Bridge on US-1. The cause of the ten-hour traffic jam in Key Largo remained unresolved for a week afterward. The images from the cameras seen here are always monitored by FDOT as part of the extensive Intelligent Transportation System, whose purpose, among other things, is to alert authorities to traffic issues in real time so they can be resolved. Nobody watching these cameras at FDOT did anything to fix the problem, even after they were called by concerned citizens.
Barrels had been placed to guide traffic during the construction of the new bridge. FDOT explains that the purpose of the barrels is “Maintenance of Traffic” or MOT. On May 22, FDOT hosted a ceremony to open the new fixed-span bridge. FDOT officials boasted that “N
ow folks won’t have to wait for the drawbridge.” In years past, the drawbridge had been responsible for many traffic jams as folks waited for the twice-hourly, ten-minute opening and closing cycle to complete. The irony has always been that Card Sound Road was almost always available, but few took advantage of the unfettered route. Following the opening of the new fixed-span Jewfish Creek Bridge, the barrels should have been removed to allow two lanes of traffic to proceed along US-1 to serve the intersection where US-1 and County Road 905 split off and take separate routes to the mainland. But since the orange barrels were left in place, there was only one lane of traffic for the last 300 feet prior to that intersection.
At the same time, traffic was backed up well prior to Milemarker 102.5, as shown in this image. Anecdotal reports had traffic backed up for 10 miles.
The folks at FDOT’s Traffic Management Center were notified by concerned citizens. Nothing was done. FDOT’s response to the subsequent public inquiry was:
“Given the limited view of our cameras at this location, our traffic management center did not link the backup of traffic to the maintenance of traffic (MOT) for our construction project. The center also did not forward the issue to our construction office for investigation.”
Goodness, this is a “limited camera view?” The view at the top of this document shows the traffic jam at Milemarker 106 very clearly, and that it was caused by the orange barrels artificially constricting the ample pavement. When shown these images, one law enforcement official was embarrassed. “That should never have happened, and it
should have been corrected immediately upon notification.”
As further indication of where the traffic jam originated, look at the views of traffic at Milemarker 110 on US-1 and on Card Sound Road, the two routes out of Key Largo. The FDOT office that monitors these cameras has a wall with at least 20 screens, where they could have viewed these scenes simultaneously.
There is no traffic at all beyond the traffic jam at Milemarker 106 in Key Largo.
Hmmm.
Lets see . . . lots of traffic prior to Milemarker 106 . . . two lanes of traffic constricted to one lane of traffic by orange barrels. . . and no traffic beyond Milemarker 106 on the two routes out of Key Largo.
Gee, I wonder where the problem is?
The purpose of this commentary is not to embarrass FDOT, although if I were responsible for this debacle, I would be. The issue was addressed by FDOT District Six Secretary Gus Pego, and it was considered closed . . .
. . .until some folks used the Memorial Day traffic jam as an excuse to add the ten-foot wide shoulder through Key Largo. The recently released Key Largo Chamber of Commerce official position on this project states,
“We support the project because we feel it will reduce dust, will help improve the appearance of the roadway, and provide emergency vehicle passage in the event of holiday back ups. The intersection of the Card Sound Road and the stretch can back-up traffic for miles on the northbound lanes. Emergency vehicles currently have no access to this area during traffic back-ups except on the unpaved shoulder condition that exists now.”
The purpose of this commentary is to set the record straight regarding the cause of the 2008 Memorial Day traffic jam and to make it clear that bad management of our roads is not a good reason to pave more of Key Largo. Were it not for the orange “MOT” barrels having been left in place after the new fixed-span bridge was opened, then it is very likely that there would not have been any backup at all.
Prior to this Memorial Day, the drawbridge at Jewfish Creek could be opened every 1/2 hour for up to ten minutes, causing frequent backups.
This year was supposed to be different.
Except for the orange barrels.
FDOT has said they’ve changed their internal communications procedures, so that this sort of thing does not happen again.
By the way, for those who read all the way down here, you might be interested in the FDOT website that delivered these images.
http://www.sunguide.org/realtimetrafficinfo.jsp
JH
On Memorial Day weekend - the heaviest traveled day of the year in Key Largo, thousands of drivers trying to return to the mainland were stranded. FDOT was advised that highway construction barrels were constricting the traffic exiting the Keys to ONE lane. FDOT did nothing. The result was ten hours of excruciating traffic. Some have used this screw-up to justify a wide shoulder through Key Largo.
August 14, 2008
FDOT caused Memorial Day traffic jam
