Little Havana business owners call for pedestrian friendly Calle Ocho
Local urban planning, design firm rolls out redesign for Southwest Eighth Street
One of South Florida's most famous
streets could undergo a major makeover thanks to a plan rolled out by a
local urban planning and design firm.
It seems
ironic that the iconic Calle Ocho, South Florida's biggest pedestrian
street party one weekend a year turns back into a three-lane roadway the
rest of the year. After all, the internationally famous street in
little Havana has become a tourist destination.
Bus loads come from near and far.
"Business is exploding. It is amazing, and the
hotter it is outside the better it is for me," said Suzanne Batlle, who
owns the Azucar Ice Cream company.
Batlle agrees that the road needs to be more pedestrian friendly.
"Certainly
for walking traffic, and we have a lot of that and it is only going to
get more and more," said Batlle. "They don't realize people are going 50
miles an hour down this street."
Juan Mullerat
runs an urban planning and design firm out of a small Coconut Grove
office. He lives near Southwest Eighth Street and wants to see little
Havana become safer for pedestrians, and more traffic friendly for shop
owners.
So on his own, pro bono without a client, and any
monetary stake in the outcome, he instructed his staff to come up with a
comprehensive urban pedestrian plan for Calle Ocho.
"Right
now it works as a highway," said Mullerat, owner of PlusUrbia. "It
wasn't intended to be a highway. It turned into a highway before (State
Road) 836 was created."
Fifty years ago, the
street was a two-lane two-way street. In his new proposal, it would
revert back to that with a dedicated bike or bus lane.
"Southwest
Eighth Street is a state road. It is not a city road," said Miami
Commissioner Frank Carrollo. "Unfortunately it is a big bureaucracy, but
little by little we are working toward making it pedestrian friendly."
Carrollo said he and his office have been working since 2013 to find a solution to Eighth Street's pedestrian problem.
"We are going to add crosswalks and we are going to enhance them," said Carrollo.
Carollo
said the Florida Department of Transportation is conducting a study to
determine if Calle Ocho should return to its roots as a two-lane two-way
street, but that conclusion is three to four years away.
Mullerat said that is too long and he wants the community to have more input.
"The whole idea of this is to get everybody else's opinion and to get a plan everybody is comfortable with," said Mullerat.
LINK TO VIDEO CLIP:
http://www.local10.com/news/little-havana-business-owners-call-for-pedestrian-friendly-calle-ocho/34204756
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