rews last week finished digging a tunnel connecting PortMiami to area interstates – and while the project will ultimately keep big trucks off downtown Miami streets, in the nearer future the end of excavation will mean less heavy vehicle traffic on the Rickenbacker Causeway.
During the dig, which started in November 2011, heavy trucks hauled spoil material from the excavation site to Virginia Key, where it will be used to cap a former landfill – another long-term project Village officials are eyeing closely, as the landfill will be converted to park space.
With the digging now done – project officials marked the occasion Monday, May 6, and now move onto another year of paving the two-lane highway within the tunnel so container trucks can use it to go straight from the port to the interstates rather than clogging downtown surface streets – there is a much closer end in sight to the heavy trucks on the causeway.
Village Manager John Gilbert said the impact on Key Biscayne won’t just immediately change, but it should ease up by the end of the month.
“I don’t anticipate just because [the boring machine] broke through there will be a reduction right away,” Gilbert remarked, noting some of the spoil material has been stored elsewhere and still needs to make its way from the storage site to the Virginia Key landfill. “I’m expecting two to three more weeks of the heavy numbers of trucks, and then a significant reduction.”
At the height of the excavation, trucks were making over 100 trips a day on the Rickenbacker.
Although most of the traffic was, by design, during the overnight hours – with none during the morning and evening rushes – residents did describe problems like speeding and sediment falling on the roadway as drivers, who are paid per load, hurried to make their deliveries.
While Gilbert said he hasn’t heard any complaints of late – as promised, trucks are washing off in a decontamination area after dropping off their load, meaning a reduction in material spilled onto the causeway; and law enforcement officials have continued patrols to fight speeding – it is still good news for the Key that trucks won’t be added to the mix in terms of local traffic.
Also good for the Village, he said, is the fact that all of the tunnel spoil destined for the Virginia Key landfill will soon be onsite.
“There’s a lot of spoil out there,” Gilbert said, noting City of Miami and Miami-Dade County will soon start on a collaborative effort to spread the spoil over the landfill and then complete the capping of the facility so it can be used as park land.
While Gilbert stressed green space won’t emerge overnight, he expects construction activity will pick up this summer.
County and City officials announced in January they were ready to start on landfill cleanup, and then conversion to a waterfront public recreation facility, following months of delay. The County will coordinate the effort and spend $1 million a year to monitor groundwater quality.
The deal came after City of Miami officials agreed to extend their contract with the County for solid waste hauling and disposal. Previously, they had balked at the cost of the County service; County officials, in turn, said they could not pay to cap the landfill without revenue generated by handling the City’s trash – which would leave the City on the line for capping the landfill.
With the deal in place, the County agreed to quickly release bond funding it already had in place to get the landfall project underway.
The landfill has been closed since 1978, and was covered only by a thin layer of soil, allowing contamination to leech into the groundwater.
The project will involve capping the facility, at a cost of $45 million, using 400,000 cubic yards of spoil material from the tunnel dig. From there, the County and City expect to build a massive recreational complex complete with passive park space and ball fields.
Key Biscayne is watching that closely, especially the latter, as local youth sports teams might be able to use the fields to take pressure off the land-strapped Village.
As Gilbert remarked earlier this year, “We are very excited about the additional green space that will be brought to the Virginia Key area, both for the public at large and possibly for Village use based on needs.”
He said the Village will be in the loop as the project moves forward.
About the Author
Kelly Josephsen graduated with a degree in Mass Communication from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. While there, she served as editor of the student newspaper, The Daily Vidette.
After working for three years as a business and higher education reporter at The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Illinois, Kelly relocated to South Florida in 2003. She currently covers local government for The Islander News.
During her tenure with The Islander News, she has received several editorial awards from the Florida Press Association and the National Newspaper Association for her writing.
Kelly enjoys running, reading and spending time with friends and family. She is married to Brandon, an attorney, and they both have a son, Anthony.
