FDOT’s $500M Expansion Of Golden Glades Interchange Set To Begin January 2024

·81 Comments

The Florida Department of Transportation’s project to expand the Golden Glades Interchange is set to begin construction in January 2024, according to a memo sent to Miami-Dade commissioners this week.

Several new flyover ramps are planned as part of the project.

There will also be new and widened lanes.

Multiple new on and off ramps will be built, while others will be rebuilt or relocated.

The project cost is estimated at $472 million according to the FDOT website, or $500 million in the memo sent to commissioners.

Miami Dade’s Commission is scheduled to vote on an Off-System Construction and Maintenance Agreement with FDOT for a portion of the project at a November 15 meeting.

 

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anonymous
6 months ago

zero percent chance the project is done on budget or on time. Also, by the time they finish the work it will be outdated as more and more people move here. Could have taken that money and started expanding the metrorail instead

56
Anonymous
6 months ago

True but it is what is…the county just needs to take the fdot money and run

8
anonymous
6 months ago

100% agree. Even though the money could be spent some where else we might as well take what we can

6
Anonymous
6 months ago

That’s what we get when we don’t vote

-10
Anonymous
6 months ago

I’ve never seen FDOT projects on any voting ballots–have only seen law amendments and candidates. Have you ever been able to vote on an FDOT project?

10
Hold Elected Leaders Accountable
6 months ago

There’s probably some road engineering company that is friends with the gov.

1
Anonymous
6 months ago

At least he’s not friendly with Chicoms like the Come-on Man in Chief, or former Mayor and his “virtual” rail obsession.

0
Idea guy
6 months ago

Use the money to expand and modernize the metro and there will be less traffic

4
Idea Guy
6 months ago

Here is a better and cheaper idea Florida!

The plan in this article is SOO confusing and will not alleviate accidents, just cause more at greater expense.

I propose that the the turnpike be redirected straight down 17th Avenue all the way down to west Miami, rather than trying to merge around one central point. Disperse the traffic! We have the land.

Use the governments power of eminent domain to expand 17th Avenue for the new turnpike and then give those people the more valuable land where the turnpike now currently turns eastward, to eliminate the need of this criss-crossing knot-way!

4
Idea Guy
6 months ago

Everyone should write and call Mr. Purdue and Gov. DeSantis and demand the money be used to expand our metro and to reroute the turnpike to a different access point – this solution is wasteful and against conservative principals.

Jared W. Perdue was named Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) by Governor Ron DeSantis on April 7, 2022.

https://www.fdot.gov/info/moredot/mission.shtm

1
Anonymous
6 months ago

Metrorail is managed by the County, not the State.

5
Anonymous
6 months ago

It’s not too late to demand something different. Email and call the DOT and gov office.

1
Anonymous
6 months ago

Everyone should write and call Mr. Purdue and Gov. DeSantis and demand the money be used to expand our metro and to reroute the turnpike to a different access point – this solution is wasteful and against conservative principals.

0
Anonymous
6 months ago

They also need to put up concrete barriers in the express lane! People learned they can drive over the rubber blockers and they cause accidents doing so.

7
Anonymous
6 months ago

Those are temporary, right?

-3
New to Miami
6 months ago

Can someone please teach the drivers in Miami-Dade that (1) you can’t just stop in a busy street and put your hazard lights on (circle around or find parking)… (2) you can’t turn left on a red light… (3) if you cross traffic to sit in a median you can’t stick out and block oncoming traffic… (4) shoulders are not VIP lanes for you to cut around traffic… (5) if you can’t clear the intersection when the light turns yellow, please be patient and wait….and LAST BUT NOT LEAST (6) pedestrians have the right of way!

11
Yeah
6 months ago

They should be required to read and consent to these rules when they get their insurance renewed every 6 months.

8
One more lane bro
6 months ago

You are clearly new. I agree with you but nobody here cares about any of that. This is the most selfish city on planet earth and that’s why everything is a mess.

-1
Yeah
6 months ago

I try to be the change I want to see in others so I’m abiding by these laws / courtesy principals. I think if more people do it the result will rub off onto even those who may be selfish when they see how it benefits them too 🙂

2
Anonymous
6 months ago

Have you been to NYC?

4
Anonymous
6 months ago

You’ll have to teach it in Spanish.

0
Yeah
6 months ago

That’s fine. Yo necesito practicar mi español – the NY subway has like 12 languages posted on every sign, I think two common languages is manageable.

0
Anonymous
6 months ago

Time to move in a different city. Here is not America.

-2
Anonymous
6 months ago

I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I love Miami. I grew up in South Florida primarily speaking English and trying to learn Spanish in school. My family spoke English, French and Arabic. This is the gem of America.

3
Anonymous
6 months ago

Don’t worry, we’re getting busways and a Metromover expansion. That’ll be sure to take cars off the road!

1
Jesus
6 months ago

They always want to expand and improve the highway system yet they can’t do the same for the public transit system at a time where we’re growing faster than ever before?

29
Anonymous
6 months ago

i agree , money is always there for highway expansion but they never have money for expanding mass transit

10
Anonymous
6 months ago

Hello. You leave in florida not in Europe. People love to driving even stuck hours and hours in traffic. The urban planning of the cities of florida its designed to drive from one point to other unfortunately.

-1
I can't believe...
6 months ago

They want to see more air polluting cars and trucks and wrecks on the highway.

0
Yeah
6 months ago

The local government in Miami should respond to this memo and require a new plan involving a large-scale expansion of our metro system

0
Melo is sigma and Chad
6 months ago

Yes we need rail expansion but the The existing interchange needs improvements.So dont get worked up folks

20
I'll just assume
6 months ago

So, they didn’t do something right the last time they did work on this Interchange?

0
azarius
6 months ago

Exactly even though we need better transit, they have projects in the works to add to our transit system, we still need to improve our roads which is the main source of transportation in the county. Now I agree we need more investments in transit and a major expansion to meet the demands of today but gotta take what we can get.

1
One more lane bro
6 months ago

It needs demolition.

1
Anonymous
6 months ago

the level of frustration when having to drive in miami is palpable…..i used to love to drive…now…within 2 blocks of leaving my building im either cutoff or behind people on their phones drifting from lane to lane or some idiot passing me at 95 mph….or the left lane being used by a delivery truck at 35 mph…now …more construction that will mean 5 years of gridlock…..but….were getting metromover to the beach….in 25-30 years…!!!!

16
Anonymous
6 months ago

What a joke our local government is tbh

7
Anonymous
6 months ago

It’s Election Day – let’s remember this the next time we vote and vote for someone who takes transportation seriously.

1
Anonymous
6 months ago

You would have to be beyond cynical to look at this interchange and think to yourself “more.” That’s $472 MILLION down the drain because I can guarantee that the conditions of this project will only become worse. Several years of construction after 2024 just for the same cycle all over again with endless traffic.

11
Disaffected miamian
6 months ago

I am going to lose my f*cking mind.

10
Yeppers
6 months ago

More lanes=more traffic
More traffic=more lanes

A never ending and unsustainable cycle of wasted money.

Build transit instead

10
Jerome
6 months ago

This will turn Miami-Dade into Los Angeles. A Sad, car-infested, sea of asphalt. Why we’re not investing in rail or bike-lanes is beyond any rational comprehension.

5
Anon
6 months ago

We live in 3D cities, yet we still believe in 2D transportation.. When will people wake up?

9
Casey
6 months ago

We are double decking 395 😁

9
Anonymous
6 months ago

Which is a good start. On a side note, Vegas has almost reached or has now reached the first phase of the tunnel project. I think the are hoping for early 2024.

0
Anonymous
6 months ago

Has now reached 50% I meant. Bring back the edit feature please.

2
Anonymous
6 months ago

Hahahaha

0
Saddam
6 months ago

If we were to have invested that $500 million to a more urbanized area of Miami, we could have gotten a prestigious public transport system or additional funds to our metro-mover. I honestly wouldn’t mind the implementation of a BRT style system that connects downtown to miami beach, or a European style electric tram

9
Anonymous
6 months ago

Trams, yes. Buses, LOL.

1
Joe CARollo
6 months ago

All the more reason to avoid driving on 95

7
Mad Dash
6 months ago

Wasted money. No cohesion or common sense to the reality of our new world

7
Fern
6 months ago

Half a billion dollars could electrify half of Tri-rail and they’re spending it on an intersection.

7
Anonymous
6 months ago

Look to the new Infrastructure Bill that just passed 25 billion was allocated to Florida – ask your leaders to direct that money to Miami public transit expansions and improvements!

6
Anonymous
6 months ago

Why?
The last time knuckleheads for the Government to handle the Penny Tax Increase money, they wasted it.
The last time knuckleheads trusted the Government to set the path for Metrorail/Mover stations, they put trains to nowhere.

5
Alcoholiotic
6 months ago

So, you’re saying, don’t take the money?

-1
Anonymous
6 months ago

Sadly this is why it will take the likes of private enterprises to make a change like Brightline has.

3
Anonymous
6 months ago

Are you referring to the Federal, State or City government – you have to be specific as each one works differently. Also governments change in a democracy so you should not rule out something based on the past.

-1
Anonymous
6 months ago

You think that “infrastructure” bill was actually for infrastructure, just like the inflation one was for inflation? I assume this was your first election.

-1
Anonymous
6 months ago

They also need to fix the shoulder design where the turnpike merges to I95 south. People always try to drive on it and cut off people waiting in traffic – it’s nuts. I wonder if the people designing this have ever even driven here.

6
Anonymous
6 months ago

Yeah I’m sure sure people will understand all these choices when their GPS is trying to redirect them through dozens of interchanges (shake my head – no common sense or innovation here)

6
Anonymous
6 months ago

This is a bandage not a solution. The FDOT should be divided into a Dept of Roadways and Dept of Metro. Clearly, one department is not considering the full range of “transportation” options.

6
Anonymous
6 months ago

Here’s the solution… Dept of Transportation should use an underutilized street and turn it into a highway from Coral Gables to the Turnpike so people in West Miami don’t have to clog up I-95 the way they do not, when they want to go North.

5
Anonymous
6 months ago

I wish I could take the turnpike directly to Brickell and not go through this congested interchange that’s always backed up – that would be a better way to go!!!

5
Anonymous
6 months ago

Exactly, the worst part of the turnpike is when it dumps you right into the busiest part of I-95 – it’s all wrong.

Think about science, when you want to fold a lot of something into something else, you don’t just dump it all in together. That creates backlog. Look at your toilet. You got to take a few flushes sometimes. The same as plumbing, you got to merge the traffic in gradually.

That is the BIGGEST problem with this original plan and patchwork costly aftermath.

Redirect the turnpike/I-95 merger southward!

5
Anonymous
6 months ago

Thank you SO much! The traffic in and out of this area is always a nightmare. I would move to North Miami if not for this poorly designed cross way that makes traffic unbearable. Glad there’s a plan now!

4
William
6 months ago

Just an obscene waste of money

3
anonymous
6 months ago

no money for transit but endless billions of dollars from the state for never-ending construction.

3
Anonymous
6 months ago

DEFUND the FDOT!

3
Smart Guy
6 months ago

This design looks like the aftermath of me configuring my entertainment system in my 20s, a million cords crossing together. I’m left with a big knot to fix later.

Now I’m in my 30s and I know it’s better to unplug everything and come up with a fresh design where the cords won’t be tangled. Similarly, FDOT should give us a FRESH design, and untangle the roadways.

3
Anonymous
6 months ago

The last few interchange projects including Dolphin-Palmetto, this, the last 2 GG works since 2000 and signature bridge cost as much as at least an actual 10 mile 10 station Metrorail project cost and/or all the possible Metromover expansions.

2
Anonymous
6 months ago

Another waste of half a billion

2
Rob mia
6 months ago

Expansion from Turnpike to 95 south is desperately needed..5 lanes into 1 is no good..What they really need to do is blow it up and redo the whole thing.

2
Back to Florida
6 months ago

Exactly, redesign some spiral configuration or merge the roads at different strategic points – it was designed with no consideration of the future and there’s still an opportunity to come up with a better plan.

1
Back to Florida
6 months ago

This is a movement. The next governor whoever he/she may be and which ever party running under, should run under the platform of smarter transportation 🇺🇸 🚆

2
anonymous
6 months ago

im happy to see were all on the same page with this

1
One more lane bro
6 months ago

Just one more lane bro please just one more lane will fix traffic one more lane please bro one more

1
Livin' off A1A
6 months ago

This project is massively needed. The root problem is that FDOT can’t design or direct a design to work! The current GG design has you getting of the Turnpike and/or the 826 and makes you drive thru a park-n-ride to go north on 95! HOWEVER–this billion-dollar plan will NOT allow access to NB-95 from the Turnpike! ONLY SOUTHBOUND! FDOT’s past directives had ALL freeways only directed towards downtown. That was a problem with the 826/836 interchange. It’s the main issue with the GGI. ***Bad Design Begats Bad Re-design***

Yes, we need to concentrate on MetroRAIL expansion to help alleviate traffic. However, that ain’t gonna happen. Even the so-called SMART plan actually will answer the issues we have. It will help, but not enough. We also need to work on correcting FDOT’s mistakes of the past. But not with more mistakes!

1