Letter from DMJM+Harris, Inc.EA,1]M-';HARRJ$
May t2, 2004
Mr. Fred Beckman
Director of Public Works
City of Miami Beach
1700 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
Dear Mr. Beckman:
We have finalized our initial comments submitted to you on May 5, 2004. Attached
please find a copy of the final report.
At this time I would also like to document the conversation we had last week regarding a
potential conflict of interest. As I mentioned to you on our call of May 5, 2004, we had
just been informed on that date by Spillis Candela DMJM that they were under contract
by the developer of "Island Gardens" to prepare the construction plans for the project.
Since DMJM+HARRIS and Spillis Candela DMJM are sister companies under the
AECOM umbrella, I was concerned about the perception of a conflict of interest relative
to the execution of our assignment. Based on DMJM+HARRIS' commitment to evaluate
the report, like any other independent professional, and not to give advance notice of our
findings to any other party before your approval, you have given us approval to continue
in this engagement and advised us to move forward with finalizing our repod.
Consequently, the repod has been finalized and submitted to you herewith. However, in
the interest of avoiding any problems or delays in the future, I recommend that you
discuss this issue with the City's Counsel and obtain their approval of the City's use of
the report.
Thank you for the oppodunity to do this work for you. We look forward to a continued
role assisting the City of Miami Beach.
Sincerely,
D .M~M+HARRIS, Inc.
G. M. Norona, P.E.
Vice President
GMN:jb
DMJM.. I
May 12, 2004
Mr. Fred Beckmann
Direclor of Public Works
City of Miami Beach
1700 Convention Cen~er Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Re: Review of "Transportation Assessment: Proposed Boundary Change to the Downtown Miami DRI Increment IF Report
Dear Mr. Beckmann
Our final comments are listed betow:
Study Area:
Review of the report indicates that only the corridors of Alton between 1'' and 15~ Street, 5t~ Street between Alton
Road and Collins Avenue and the MacArthur Causeway (to Alton Road) we~'e analyzed.
As indicated in section 1.1 page 5 of the report, the consultant defined the study area as '"all corridors leading to
Miami Beach and all North, South, East and West roads (including Alton Road in Miami Beach)."
However, the Final Pre-Application summary distributed by the South Flodda Regional Council (SFRC) staied that
the project study area should include all corridors leading to Miami Beach and all North, Southl East and West
Roads (including Alton Road) in Miami Beach.
Therefore, the consultant did not analyze the study area as defined by the SFRC memorandum.
Link Analysis
Following is a review of the link analysis performed along Alton Road, 5"' Street, MacArthur Causeway:
Alton Road
Traffic reported in the report between 5~h Street and 15r" Street during the PM peak period appears lower than
expected when compared to other traffic data collected recently (April 2004) within the same area. Also, DPA
collected 24 hr counts on December 17, 2003 at one location between 10 Street & 11 Streel, We recommend
72-hour counts at at least two locations along the corddor.
5~h Street
Alto~ Rd - Collins Ave
A review of recent counts indicates that traffic is somewhat higher than the traffic shown in the report in the
PM peak period. The traffic source in the report is FDOT 2002 count stations.
The report indicates the Maximum Service Volume (MSV) for a 6LD road to be 2,580 vph in one direction.
FDOT's 2002 table guidelines indicate a MSV of 2,330 vph for this type of road. This over-represents the
capacity along 5~' Street.
MacArthur Causeway
A/ton Road - Bayshore Drive
The report classified this section of road as a freeway instead of a 6LD state two-way arterial with an
accepted level of service "E". MSV should be 2790 vph on MacArthur Causeway from Biscayne to Alton
Road, The report indicates values ranging from 5,030 to 5.990. Higher v/c ratios were obtained using the
""
DMJ M.,,I+ARR
2,790 MSV for this road and levels o[ service dropped in various segments, Person Trip Capacity analysis ks
also based on ti~e traffic analysis and this error is carded forward.
· Year 2009 conditions were re-calculated using 2790 MSV. The results are summarized in the table below
and compared to the repod results (Table 2). As shown in Table I, v;c ratios are almost double compared to
what was indicated in the report calculations,
Table 1. Re-calculated Year 2009 Person Trip Conditions (MacArthur Causeway)
} I Per'Trip I Proj
From To [DIr [ Capacityl traffic MSV I vic I LOS I MSV
^,o~ ........... F;';'~';~%i~'"~=~i~e I 5a2- ' 9-- ~r,~ ...... 58~ 0.9~
Fishe~ Islan~ Ent Palm Island Ept ~EB ~ 3282 [ 256 5812 [ O~ ~ C ~ 4.40%
IW~ ~56, I 2~9 ~a~ I ~.~3
Palm ~sland Ertl Watson island En~ ]~B ] 5269 I 2~ 5812 ~ 0.91 ~ t ~ 440%
.. iW.'l 5749 I 239 5812 I o,~ I F: I 411%
Watson island Eh{ Bay~l~ore Dr ~EH I 5822 ~ 809 5812 ] 100 ~ F ] 13 92%
],V~]_,,,6336 ,,[ 826 5812 J, ,109
trip~ , 5%I
Table 2. DPA's Year 2009 Person Trip Conditions (MacArthur Causeway)
| I Per'Trip I Pr°J I I
= To [Dir l Capacity traffic I MSV vic
[WB I 6177 239 9420 0.~
~F~sher ~sland Ent Palm island E*~t EB ~ 3282 256 ~20 03~
, IW~l ~ I ~3~I~"~ I o7<
'Palm Island Ent Walson island Ent ED 5269 ~ 256 ~ 10956 ~ 0.4~
j,Vatson ~sland Ent Baysho[e Dr EB 5822 809 ~ 10956 0 5:
....... WB 633,6 826 10956 1,, 0 5
LOS ~ MSV Itrips> 5%i
c 1 :?s4~/" I No
D I 272%
c ~ 738~'. ~ Yes
· Based on the above, it appears that a segment of Macarthur Causeway from Watson Island to Bayshore
Drive is significantly impacted.
Growth Rate:
The repod uses 0.84% as a weighted adjusted compound growth rate for Alton Road consistent with the weighted
adjusted compound growth rated of the approved DDRI along SR 836/I-395tMacArthL!r Causeway. No indication
was given as to a growth rate for 5"' Street. There is no analysis or justification for this growth rate. In fact. the 5'
Street & Alton TIS dated April 2004 calculated a 205% growth rate for the south beach area based on historic [rafiic
of Miami Beach roads (using FDOT count stations).
Our review of traffic historical data in Miami Beach yielded an average growth rate of 494% per year, This review
included five count stations, two on 5"' Street, one on Alton road and two on Collins Avenue. Along McArthur
Causeway, lhe computed average growth rate per year based on histodc traffic was 27%. As such, the growth rate
was underestimated for this analysis.
Trip Generation:
In reviewing the adjusted tdp generation analysis worksheets, there appears to be errors in the sproadsheet under
reporting trips for "Attractions-Movie Theater".
Ped/Bike Trip Reduction:
DPA established a 3.5% reduction in trips for the Ped/Bike mode for the Island Garden Area. Thero is no
justification to back this up, we believe, based on the area characteristics, there should be no reduction for ped,'bike
mode.
· mm )TM
DMJM.. RI'JS
Buildout Year:
The study indicales the buildout year remains at 2009 (section 10, page 5 of DPA report) However, several
documents dated May 6, 2003 indicated that the initial buildout year for Increment II had been changed from
December 30, 2005 to May 20, 2014. If so, this will affect the projected traffic and impact ali tile traffic analysis
This should be clarified and any necessary corrections made to the analysis,
Committed Projects:
Based on the review of the study, it appears that only Portofino Development was included in the analysis. We had
requested information from DPA regarding their request for commitled development projects and what was provided
by the City to them. The information received yielded little information.
Section 3.2, page 49 of the report, states that the Parrot Jungle and other developments will not undergo DRi review
but instead they will be included in the DDRI analysis as committed or background developments. Later, the report
indicales that Parrot Jungle was not included as a committed development because il generates 500 trips/day less
than the 400 pm peak threshold
Again, it appears that only the Portofino Development was included as a committed development At this poinl it is
obvious that a substantial number of committed trips were assigned to Miami Beach roads: however, it is unclear
how Portofino trips were included and assigned.
HCS Analysis - Alton Rdt5~' Street:
· Initial findings indicate that there are some discrepancies in the input data for the analysis such as peak hour
factors, lane widths etc.; however, those discrepancies will not significantly affect the output. The HCS analysis for
2009 does not appear to reflect any significant change in traffic~ There could be significant impacts to ti~is
intersection when committed traffic, appropriate growth rate and build-out year among other items are corrected
In summary, our review found vadous sources for discrepancies throughout the report with various degrees of
~mpact. Discrepancies that need to be addressed and corrected due to their systematic impact to lhe oversil
project are:
· Definition of Build-out Year, 2009 or 2014 and subsequent corrections to the analysis
· Selection of appropriate growth year factor (2.5% to 5%) for the Miami Beach area and the
McArthur Causeway and subsequent corrections to the analysis
· Use the FDOT standard MSV and level of service for McArthur Causeway and subsequent
corrections to the analysis
· Include all committed trips to the roadway system and assess the impacts on MacArthur
Causeway and the intersection of 5~' street at Alton Road.
If you have any questions, please call me.
Sincerely,
DMJM+HARRIS+ INC.
Cados Francis, P.E.
Project Manager
cc: File 046106165-4113