One would think Sunday, 4:30 PM, would be a good time to
take a relaxing bike ride and shake off another Dolphin loss. You would think so, but you would be wrong.
I ask you, would you allow children to walk or ride bikes
and scooters around trucks in a loading zone? Of course not. Then why would you
allow multi-paths to be used as a parking/unloading zone, especially at a time
and on a day when you expect children to be riding this shared path?
Are these youths safe? Think there is any risk of being struck by a vehicle turning into the station,? The youths are screened off from view. They are no longer walking on a marked path, they are forced into the parking lot where cars may not be looking out for them.
Another day, another violation on a shared path in Palmetto
Bay. This is a safety issue.
Is there any village enforcement? Do any of our current
elected officials concern themselves with providing a handicapped accessible
path? Obviously there is no concern for the ADA any longer in Palmetto Bay.
Is there any village enforcement? Do any of our current elected officials concern themselves with providing a handicapped accessible path? Obviously there is no concern for the ADA anymore in Palmetto Bay.
The car parked squared in the center wasn’t enough. The icing on the cake is the wide open door. The driver was nowhere to be found. There was plenty of parking off the path. This appears to be a deliberate choice.
Shame on the current Palmetto Bay mayor and council.
You want shared paths? Then enforce rules that make paths safe. It is not up to cyclists to police the paths like a pack of 'boomer Karens'. The SW 136th Street Path is not even complete and already … it’s a parking space! Seen on SW 136th Street on Friday, October 1st, 2021. Hey, Sue, I guess the cyclists have more room in the lane when the cars 'take the path'! See: October 2, 2021, Special post - Photo(s) of the day. Reader submitted photos of the Palmetto Bay designed shared path. Or is it a car park?
Another day, another violation on a shared path in Palmetto Bay. This is a safety issue.
I ask you, would you allow children to walk or ride bikes and scooters around trucks in a loading zone? Of course not. Then why would you allow multi-paths to be used as a parking/unloading zone, especially at a time and on a day when you expect children to be riding this shared path?
This is yet another example as to why I fight for bike lanes, not shared paths. Multi-paths are too easily misused by vehicles for either parking or even driving. And please, I've heard that I should call the police, not post on social media. Not buying that. I'm out riding, not patrolling. We have police patrolling. In my opinion, this is a clear and obvious violation of the multi-path (no motorized vehicles) as well as an affront to the ADA.
You want shared paths? Then enforce rules that make paths safe. It is not up to cyclists to police the paths like a pack of 'boomer Karens'. The SW 136th Street Path is not even complete and already … it’s a parking space! Seen on SW 136th Street on Friday, October 1st, 2021. Hey, Sue, I guess the cyclists have more room in the lane when the cars 'take the path'! See: October 2, 2021, Special post - Photo(s) of the day. Reader submitted photos of the Palmetto Bay designed shared path. Or is it a car park?
Video I (3 minutes, 54 seconds)- starting he journey from the furthest point currently paved west end - moving east
Video II (3 minutes, 3 seconds)- Moving eastward from 77th Avenue:
Can one ride a bicycle on the existing standard sidewalk, aka, was it really necessary to spend $1.8 million to widen the existing sidewalk from the standard 5 feet to 5, 6, 8 or 10 feet in odd areas? Let's find out in video III.
Video III - (52 seconds) riding the existing standard size sidewalk that remains (for now) eastward to the end at Old Cutler Road:
PRIOR RELATED POSTS on Shared Path Comparison- the Red Road Linear Path in Pinecrest as well as the Cutler Bay Shared Path.
This
video is part of a series examining multi use paths in our area. I plan in
comparing the Old Cutler Trail, the Cutler Bay Shared use path, the Pinecrest
Red Road Lineal Park Path. All compared with the current Palmetto Bay designed
Shared Path now under construction on SW 136th Street.
Many
of you may be familiar with this Red Road Linear Park Path. It was originally
created under Miami-Dade County and later nurtured and maintained by the
Village of Pinecrest. Compare it with the JPA shared path that Palmetto Bay designed for
SW 136th Street.
The
Red Road Linear Park Path is a 2.5 mile lighted walking/bicycle path along the
Snapper Creek Canal on Red Road. There are three rest areas accented with coral
rock walls and enhanced landscaping along historic Red Road, located along the
East-side of Red Road between Kendall Drive and Killian Drive in Pinecrest,
Florida.
Now this is a shaded, park type amenity that provides safe mobility!
Here is a Yelp Review of this path/park:
Yes, per the Village of Pinecrest, this does qualify as parkland. It's a little strip of land bordered by Red Road on one side and the Snapper Creek Canal on the other. There is a meandering paved path, one upon which my running feet pound quite often. It's a running/walking/biking/blading path, and a good one.
The park is listed as 2.5 miles long. I'm surprised at that, because my internal odometer says it feels a little less. Maybe that's because unlike many other South Florida "parks," it actually has a bit of a tree canopy, helping somewhat to ease the pain the sun brings. In fact, there's a wide variety of native plant life on display along this path, from gumbo limbo to cypress to pond apple. This helps make the path as scenic as a path that close to a busy road can be.
This stretch of Snapper Creek looks like an enticing place to cast a fishing line, but in all honesty, the fishing here sucks. This stretch of the canal is just a deep featureless ditch, with little or no aquatic plant life or other structure providing cover for fish.
Insider tip....only run here when the wind is out of the east, the path is on the east side of Red Road. Run here during periods of westerly breeze, and you open yourself up to breathing truck exhaust.
Important
note - this is one multi use path where there are no potential conflicts with
motor vehicles - not one. At no point do vehicles cross the path at any point
along any of this 2.5 mile path.
Take
note of the following for this Red Road Linear Park Path:
The appearance of park amenity
including numerous park type benches. The uniformity of the path.
The quality of the construction.
There are no areas of conflict
with cars anywhere along the entirety of the 2.5 miles of this path. It is
a path uninterrupted by any conflict from motor vehicles crossing the
path.
At no time does this path narrow
from its uniform width, nor does it take any sharp turns or curves (once
it begins – the southern terminus connects to the cross walk that leads to
Pinecrest Gardens – and other path.
Contrast this with the Palmetto Bay designed shared path. Note that
there will be as many as 70 separate areas of conflict with roadways and the
numerous driveways that will cross the Palmetto Bay designed shared path along
SW 136th Street. And note, I have previously identified that safety is
compromised at each point where motorized vehicles cross shared paths.
Part I - This is just plain funny. You have to laugh or we will all end up crying. This split of the path is not on the plans. This is an off plans modification. The question is whether two 5 foot sections really function as a 10 foot shared path when it is split in two and have trees placed in the median? Is this a Palmetto Bay designed landscaped median for a divided walkway? [Editor's note - these photos were sent by a reader (FOSDU) who asked to remain anonymous.]
Does this look familiar? Like maybe the same treatment that killed the oak at Coral Reef Park?
The contributor provided the following comments with the photos:
Coral Reef Park - it killed this tree
This tree might not survive because the root was pruned back to the trunk. The 10 foot sidewalk is now a double sidewalk and unsafe close to the road. Perfect situation for injury.
This is one of those truth is stranger than fiction / you can make this stuff up. I have to ask Sue (you know who you are), do you really think that this path will properly function as a shared path - for bike mobility? See Part II, below, for some cold water in the face reality as to the real uses for this shared path.
Seriously Sue, you are against bike lanes, as cycling groups would have to ride within the bike lanes where provided and, as you say, they (cycling groups) would rather take the lane. That is incredibly selfish.
Part II -That sure didn’t take long. The path is not even completed and already … it’s a parking space! Seen on SW 136th Street on Friday, October 1st, 2021. Hey, Sue, I guess the cyclists have more room in the lane when the cars 'take the path'!
Note the cyclist, who is STILL making proper use of taking the lane. (This cyclist is riding properly - riding a legally intended on this road.)
This video is part of a series examining multi use paths in our area. I plan in comparing the Old Cutler Trail, the Cutler Bay Shared use path, the Pinecrest Red Road Lineal Park Path, all with the current Palmetto Bay designed Shared Path now under construction on SW 136th Street.
Part 1. Please look at this shared use path that Cutler Bay worked on with Miami-Dade County and compare it with the JPA shared path that Palmetto Bay designed for SW 136th Street.
Take note of the following for this Cutler Bay designed shared path:
The appearance of park amenity including numerous park type benches. The uniformity of the path.
The quality of the construction.
There are minimal areas of conflict with cars - in fact, there are no conflicts in the first 1 minute, 46 seconds of this video. The distance is .4 of a mile or 2,116 feet (measured via Google Earth) where there is a path uninterrupted by any conflict from motor vehicles crossing the path.
There are a total of 17 areas of potential conflict (after the .4 mile area mentioned above). There are few streets; most are business driveways all located in close proximity to the Franjo Road business district.
At no time does this path narrow from its uniform width, nor does it take any sharp turns or curves.
Contrast this with the Palmetto Bay designed shared path. Note that there will be as many as 70 separate areas of conflict with roadways and the numerous driveways that will cross the Palmetto Bay designed shared path along SW 136th Street. And note, I have previously identified that safety is compromised at each point where motorized vehicles cross shared paths.
Above and below, photos depicting the construction status of the Palmetto Bay designed shared path on SW 136th Street. Some landscaping will eventually be restored, but the widths will not change. The first photo shows a full 10 foot section that reduces to an 8 foot wide section. The other photo above shows a section where 8 feet is suddenly reduced to a mere 5 feet (standard sidewalk width). The photo below documents a section "separated" by mere feet and no curbing from SW 136th Street.
Please also note that there was no public input on the Palmetto Bay designed shared path. Not a single public meeting. The re-design was developed in private by a few people with special influence and who enjoy special access to the current mayor.
In other words, drivers will still be required to share SW 136th Street with cyclists. Please don't yell at the cyclists to move off the road. The fault is that of the current Palmetto Bay mayor and council who changed the plans from dedicated bike lanes to a shared path.
