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Resolution 2022-32232 RESOLUTION NO. 2022-32232 A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY AND NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY OF LIFE COMMITTEE, AT ITS MARCH 29, 2022 MEETING, THAT THE CITY ADMINISTRATION SUBMIT A FORMAL REQUEST TO THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD TO CONSIDER AN ADDITIONAL MODIFICATION TO THE WEEKEND SCHEDULE OF THE 63RD STREET BASCULE BRIDGE, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE CITY ADMINISTRATION, IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE TRAFFIC IMPACTS UPON MAJOR THOROUGHFARES IN THE VICINITY OF THE 63RD STREET BRIDGE ON WEEKENDS. WHEREAS, the 63rd Street bascule bridge is a drawbridge located near the east end of SR 907/63" Street between Alison Road and Indian Creek Drive in the City of Miami Beach; and WHEREAS, the operation and maintenance of the 63rd Street bascule bridge are under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation ("FDOT"), which engages a private contractor to provide bridge tender services, including controlling bridge activity and maintaining bridge activity logs; and WHEREAS, the United States Coast Guard ("USCG") has the authority to establish and regulate the 63`d Street bridge schedule; and WHEREAS, in December 2020, the USCG notified the City of the results of a review of the weekend schedule of the 63rd Street bridge and its intent to modify the weekend schedule on a pilot basis to authorize bridge openings on the hour and half-hour (only if there is demand), rather than on-demand, in order to better serve the needs of vehicular traffic while still ensuring that the reasonable needs of marine traffic are maintained; and WHEREAS, the USCG deemed the pilot to be successful and, after an extensive public comment period that concluded on July 26, 2021, the USCG approved the new weekend schedule as set forth in the Federal Register; and WHEREAS, based on these latest changes, the current 63rd Street bascule bridge schedule is as follows: • From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, the bridge will open on the hour and half hour (but only if there is demand) • From 7:10 a.m. to 9:55 a.m. and from 4:05 p.m. to 6:59 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays, the bridge will not open for the passage of vessels, except emergency vessels or tug/tow vessels • From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Saturdays and Sundays, the bridge will open on the hour and half-hour (but only if there is demand), except on Federal holidays when the bridge will operate on demand. Outside of those hours, on Saturdays and Sundays, the bridge operates on demand; and WHEREAS, the City's Transportation and Mobility Department staff routinely requests the monthly bridge activity logs from FDOT and reviews the logs with regard to bridge activity over time, as well as for compliance with the current bridge schedule; and WHEREAS, based on City staff's review of the bridge activity and vehicular traffic data, City staff believes that an additional modification to the current weekend schedule of the 63rd Street bridge is warranted; and WHEREAS, City staff has determined that it would be more beneficial and appropriate if the 63rd Street bridge schedule is modified to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., on weekends, rather than from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the bridge would open on the hour and half-hour(only if there is demand); and WHEREAS, City staff's recommended modification is intended to yield the most benefit in terms of limiting bridge openings during weekends to avoid severe traffic congestion along both directions of 63" Street, Southbound Indian Creek Drive, and Northbound Alton Road; and WHEREAS, at the March 29, 2022 Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee ("PSNQLC") meeting, the City Administration presented the findings of its analysis and its recommendation that the USCG should consider this additional modification to the 63rd Street bridge weekend schedule in order to reduce traffic impacts to major thoroughfares in the vicinity on weekends; and WHEREAS, the PSNQLC passed a motion recommending that the City Administration move forward with submitting a formal request to the USCG to modify the weekend bridge schedule of the 63rd Street bridge, as recommended by the Administration. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT DULY RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, that the Mayor and City Commission accept the recommendation of the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee, at its March 29, 2022 meeting, that the City Administration submit a formal request to the United States Coast Guard to consider an additional modification to the weekend schedule of the 63rd Street bascule bridge, as recommended by the City Administration, in order to reduce the traffic impacts upon major thoroughfares in the vicinity of the 63rd Street Bridge on weekends. PASSED and ADOPTED this 20" day of July 2022. Dan Gelber, Mayor ATTEST: AO 2 5 2022 Eq'''o, ' :IkLORI' RATED' Rafael E. Granado, City Clerk 3 ;) (Sponsored by Commissioner Steven Meiner) APPROVED AS TO FORM & LANGUAGE & FOR EXECUTION n2 - I City Attorney ,. Date Resolutions -C7 U MIAMI BEACH COMMISSION MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission FROM: Alina T. Hudak, City Manager DATE: July 20, 2022 SUBJECT:A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY AND NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY OF LIFE COMMITTEE, AT ITS MARCH 29, 2022 MEETING, THAT THE ADMINISTRATION SUBMIT A FORMAL REQUEST TO THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD TO CONSIDER AN ADDITIONAL MODIFICATION TO THE WEEKEND SCHEDULE OF THE 63RD STREET BASCULE BRIDGE, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE ADMINISTRATION, TO REDUCE TRAFFIC IMPACTS TO MAJOR THOROUGHFARES IN THE VICINITY OF THE BRIDGE DURING WEEKENDS. RECOMMENDATION The Administration recommends that the Mayor and City Commission approve the Resolution. BACKGROUND/HISTORY At the September 17, 2021 City Commission meeting, Commissioner Michael Gongora referred a discussion item regarding the 63rd Street bridge schedule to the Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee. This item is currently sponsored by Commissioner Steven Meiner and was discussed at the March 29, 2022 Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee (PSNQLC) meeting and received the Committee's support. The 63rd Street bascule bridge is a drawbridge located near the east end of SR 907/63 Street between Alison Road and Indian Creek Drive. The operations and maintenance of the 63rd Street bascule bridge are under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). FDOT engages a private contractor to provide bridge tender services. The bridge tender is responsible for controlling bridge activity and maintaining bridge activity logs; however, the United States Coast Guard (USCG)establishes and regulates the drawbridge schedule. At the March 11, 2015 City Commission meeting, Commissioner Micky Steinberg sponsored a discussion regarding potential modifications to the 63rd Street bascule bridge schedule. At the meeting, Transportation and Mobility Department staff presented traffic data showing a 45% increase in vehicular traffic on 63 Street from 7 AM to 10 AM (morning peak) and from 4 PM to 7 PM (afternoon peak) with no corresponding increase in marine traffic during those time Page 504 of 1502 periods. On April 8, 2015, pursuant to City Commission direction, the City submitted a formal request to the USCG to modify the schedule of bridge openings for the 63rd Street drawbridge, and, in particular, restricting bridge openings during the aforementioned morning and afternoon peak periods. Following an extensive public vetting process including two comment periods in the Federal Register, the USCG approved the ruling modifying the drawbridge schedule pursuant to the City's request. The new bridge schedule was endorsed by the City Commission via Resolution No. 2016-29346 and implemented by the USCG in May 2016. In December 2020, the USCG notified the City of the results of a review of the weekend schedule of the 63rd Street drawbridge and its intent to modify the weekend schedule on a pilot basis to better serve the needs of vehicular traffic while ensuring the reasonable needs of marine traffic are maintained. Per the weekend bridge schedule in place at that time, the 63rd Street drawbridge opened on-demand on Saturdays and Sundays. The USCG pilot modified the weekend schedule to allow bridge openings on the hour and half-hour (only if there is demand) rather than on-demand. The USCG deemed the pilot was successful, and after an extensive public comment period that concluded on July 26, 2021, the USCG approved the new weekend schedule in the Federal Register. Based on these latest changes, the current 63rd Street bascule bridge schedule is as follows: • From 7 AM to 7 PM, Monday through Friday, the bridge will open on the hour and half hour (but only if there is demand) • From 7:10 AM to 9:55 AM and from 4:05 PM to 6:59 PM, Monday through Friday, except federal holidays, the bridge will not open for passage of vessels, except emergency vessels or tug/tow vessels • From 7 AM to 7 PM, on Saturdays and Sundays, the drawbridge will open on the hour and half-hour (but only if there is demand), except on federal holidays when the bridge will operate on demand. Outside of those hours, on Saturdays and Sundays, the bridge operates on demand The City's Transportation and Mobility Department staff requests the monthly bridge activity logs from FDOT and reviews bridge activity over time as well as compliance with the current schedule outlined above. This information is shared with FDOT as the agency with jurisdiction over the operations and maintenance of the 63rd Street bascule bridge. ANALYSIS As a result of numerous recent complaints from area residents regarding the frequency and duration of the 63rd Street bridge openings and resulting traffic congestion on 63 Street, the Transportation and Mobility Department staff conducted an in-depth review of the bridge logs between March 2021 and September 2021 and compared this data to 2019 bridge logs. Based on this review, staff identified an increase in daily openings of 11%; however, the average number of vessels per month has increased by 534% (from 389 in 2019 to 2,077 in 2021). This significant increase in documented maritime activity has contributed to significantly longer queues of vessels waiting to pass under the 63rd Street bascule Page 505 of 1502 bridge. This higher demand has increased the duration of bridge openings from an average of 3 minutes per opening in 2019 to approximately 9 minutes per opening in 2021. The increased duration of bridge openings has ultimately resulted in longer periods of traffic congestion on 63rd Street after a bridge opening. Based on traffic modeling performed by in-house staff, it is estimated that each bridge opening on 63 Street represents an additional 85 seconds of average delay per vehicle. Given the increase in the number of bridge openings in recent months, the cumulative additional delay per month per vehicle has increased by approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. This delay contributes to significant congestion along southbound Indian Creek Drive and northbound Alton Road. Congestion is exacerbated with frequent bridge activity, thus not allowing these corridors to fully recover for several hours during the day. Following some recent discussions with area residents regarding their concerns with the amount of weekend bridge activity and the traffic impacts to 63 Street as well as to southbound Indian Creek Drive and northbound Alton Road, City staff further investigated weekend bridge activity. Given the current bridge opening schedule during weekends, the City's Transportation and Mobility Department staff reviewed bridge activity logs to determine the feasibility of extending the restricted hours to begin at 9:00 AM rather than at 7:00 AM and to end at 9:00 PM rather than at 7:00 PM. Staff assessed available weekend bridge activity data from February 2021 to November 2021 and identified the following: • The bridge had an average of only 2 openings between 7 AM and 9 AM on the weekends • The bridge had an average of 24 openings between 7 PM and 9 PM on the weekends • Bridge activity significantly dropped after 9 PM Based on the above data, and in an effort to reduce traffic impacts on weekends, staff believes that an additional modification to the bridge's current weekend schedule is warranted such that from 9 AM to 9 PM, on weekends, rather than 7 AM to 7 PM, the bridge would open on the half-hour and hour only if there is demand. Outside of those hours, the bridge would open on-demand only. Furthermore, staff believes that the recommended weekend schedule modification should be brought forth to the USCG for consideration as part of its rule making process. In the meanwhile, the Transportation and Mobility Department will continue to evaluate weekday bridge activity and its impact on traffic flow along the major thoroughfares in the vicinity to determine if further modifications/restrictions to the weekday schedule are warranted to reduce the impact to weekday peak period vehicular traffic. After-Action From The March 29. 2022 PSNQLC Meeting At the March 29, 2022 PSNQLC meeting, the Administration presented the findings of its analysis and its recommendation that the USCG consider an additional modification to the weekend bridge schedule to reduce traffic impacts to major thoroughfares in the vicinity of the bridge during weekends. At the meeting, the Committee passed a motion endorsing the Administration's recommendation to modify the weekend bridge schedule. USCG Process for Consideration of Modifications to Drawbridge Schedules The USCG has a formal process to consider modifications to drawbridge schedules. In order to request further modifications to the 63rd Street drawbridge schedule, the City must submit a formal request to the USCG. Although not a requirement, the USCG encourages requestors to Page 506 of 1502 provide empirical data substantiating their request. The USCG reviews the request, and if approved by the USCG, the Notice of Proposed Rule Making is published in the Federal Register for a 30- day public comment period. Once all comments have been considered and the public comment period ends, the proposed final ruling is placed in the Federal Register for a second public comment period. From inception, the USCG's rule making process typically takes approximately at least one year to complete. SUPPORTING SURVEY DATA N/A FINANCIAL INFORMATION None. CONCLUSION The current weekend schedule for the 63rd Street bascule bridge consists of opening on the hour and half-hour (only if there is demand), from 7 AM to 7 PM, except on federal holidays. Outside of those hours, on Saturdays and Sundays,the bridge operates on demand. Based on continuing resident concerns and feedback regarding the high frequency of 63rd Street bascule bridge activity during weekends, the City's Transportation and Mobility Department staff has evaluated weekend bridge activity logs to determine if additional modifications to the weekend schedule are warranted and beneficial from a traffic perspective. Based on staffs assessment, the Administration believes that the weekend bridge activity data corroborates the residents' request for modifications to the current weekend schedule. Specifically, the modifications would include restrictions beginning at 9 AM (rather than 7 AM currently) and ending at 9 PM (rather than 7 PM currently). Outside of these hours, the bridge would open on-demand. The City's recommended modification is intended to yield the most benefit in terms of limiting the bridge openings during weekends to avoid severe traffic congestion along both directions of 63 Street, southbound Indian Creek Drive, and northbound Alton Road. If the City Commission accepts the PSNQLC's recommendation and adopts this Resolution, the Administration will formally transmit a letter to the USCG, including the City Commission Resolution, requesting that the USCG consider the City's recommended modification to the 63rd Street bascule bridge weekend schedule to reduce traffic impacts on major thoroughfares in the vicinity of the bridge during the weekends. If the City's recommended modification is supported by the USCG, the federal rulemaking process is expected to take at least one year to complete prior to the schedule modification taking effect. Applicable Area North Beach Is this a "Residents Right Does this item utilize G.O. to Know" item. pursuant to Bond Funds? City Code Section 2-14? No No Strategic Connection Mobility-Address traffic congestion. Page 507 of 1502 Legislative Tracking Transportation and Mobility Sponsor Commissioner Steven Meiner Page 508 of 1502