Found this great post on MiamiCars.com about FDOT deciding to address problems they created.
We agree! Motivated by greed and toll revenue FDOT really screwed the pooch on the Palmetto Expressway. The “express lanes” aka Lexus Lanes have created more traffic and lowered safety on an already dangerous highway.
Well this post may be a little late, but it is with much satisfaction that we report the FDOT decided last year to suspend toll collection on the Palmetto Expressway.
Now they need to remove the plastic poles and open up the full width of the highway. You can clearly see that all this is doing is creating more traffic and reducing safety.
Below is a copy of the letter former Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez sent to FDOT about the decision to “roll back” the express lane tolls.
Enough is enough! People can see through the Express Lane scam perpetuated by FDOT. First it was the I-95 Express Lanes, now the scourge of #Tollmageddon has reached the Palmetto 826 Expressway.
The Palmetto was perhaps the most dangerous highway in Miami-Dade County prior to FDOT adding express lanes, aka Lexus Lanes. They have now added a new layer of danger with these lanes. The facts are clear; FDOT has narrowed lanes from 12 feet to 11 feet and virtually eliminated the emergency breakdown lane on the inside lanes. Just like they did over 10 years ago on the I-95.
We are glad to see that state representatives Bryan Avila and Manny Diaz Jr. are taking action to protect motorist from high impact crashes that are perpetuated on highways with Express Lanes.
FDOT has once again demonstrated its ability to put public safety in second place and monetization in first place. Call it what you will: a money grab, highway robbery, toll scam, etc., FDOT did not make the road safer by adding these Express Lanes. They clearly, and we would say, intentionally compromised safety in order to create a new revenue stream from a highway that was built and maintained by gas and other transportation taxes.
How many times have we been fed this BS by the Florida Department of Transportation? “Express lanes increase travel speeds for both the toll payer and non-toll payer”, “Fatter and wider plastic delineator polls will fix the problem of lane diving”. Yada, yada, yada. If you pay for the study, you can make it say whatever you want. Its a lie no one believes anymore. Express lanes do not reduce traffic they create it by increase lane closures because of high impact crashes and fatalities.
“Too many accidents and not enough safety, this is what we’ve seen.”
Carlos Garcia
Miami Activist
Roll Back Tolls
Why is FDOT, Florida Department of Transportation moving forward with Express Lanes on the SR 826 Palmetto Expressway when they know that these dangerous lanes have caused accidents and fatalities to increase exponentially on I-95 since they were installed in 2008?
Watch video report by Channel 10 on why State Troopers are now speaking out about how they can’t do their jobs and how they fear for their own safety on the I-95 Express Lanes. Do we want this on the Palmetto SR 826 too? No way FDOT!
Folks, that’s 4064 accidents per year or 11 accidents per day due to express lanes on I-95.
Its true, as much as we wish it were not. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is planning on that same dangerous design on the Palmetto Expressway. Narrowing general travel lanes from 12 feet down to 11 feet, using those infamous plastic “delineator” poles to separate the express lanes from the general non-tolled lanes and narrower emergency lanes.
It seem unbelievable with the enormous amount of money that these express lanes generate that safer solutions have not been used. We should absolutely demand that FDOT make existing express lanes on I 95 safer by not using plastic poles that invite the dangerous practice of lane diving. We are sure the smart engineers and designers can come up with a better plan than using plastic poles.
They must also restore emergency lane widths to pre-express lane widths to allow for a safe area in the event of driver breakdowns and for troopers to do their jobs safely. The width of a parking space does not cut it FDOT!
We don’t want dangerous Express Lanes like the ones on I-95 on the Palmetto. Its already one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the entire state.
If you can’t make it safe then DON’T DO IT FDOT!
