The
Board attended the second public hearing that was facilitated by
Florida Representative Frank Artiles on Oct 3rd. From what we learned at
their presentation and what we already knew, the Board spoke out in
opposition to the project as it would have an adverse affect in our and
other surrounding communities. What we have learned is very disturbing
and we urge you to contact Rep. Frank Artiles and express your concerns. We also urge you to visit http://rollbacktolls.com get more information related to the proposed Killian Parkway ramp as well as their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollbacktolls
to voice your concerns. It is important to also remember, that this
not only affects us at Devon-Aire Villas, but all surrounding communities.
Please pass this on to anyone that you know will be affected.
This is what we knew up until October 3rd.
On August 15th we were notified by Devon-Aire PTSA, that they were
made aware a proposed Turnpike Ramp right in the middle of a
residential area. Apparently
FDOT held a public hearing on
August 6th at a meeting place in Bird Road about 10 miles away from the affected area and did
not adequately notify local residents
which would explain why only 5 residents showed up to that meeting. They later claimed on the Oct 3rd meeting, that
they sent out 67,000
mailings to alert the community of the project which is not
true. When the DAK8 PTSA
notified local residents, many
were very mad because of the lack of information regarding the project and secondly
the proximity to
the school and surrounding homes. To put
things in perspective:
- The proposed ramp
will be constructed at the top of the turnpike overpass.
- DAK8 is
just 300 yards away from Killian
Parkway.
- DAK8 is
about 600 yards away from the proposed ramp.
- Between the
proposed ramp, there are already two traffic signals to
which they propose to add a third right traffic signal at the top of the overpass. That would mean that
all three signals will be about 400 yards apart which will slow traffic further.
- That
would of
course further congest an already congested roadway, slow
down traffic more and make things even more dangerous for pedestrian,
joggers, children, etc... which either cross Killian or use the overpass
on a daily bases to get to and from the 117th Ave shopping center.
- The
new proposed ramp would be another accident magnet. Any accident
occurring on this ramp will trap cars between 122nd Ave & 117th Ave
traffic lights with no way of escape. That will of course only serve to further back up
traffic as their are no routes that can get around that area without
heading towards Kendall Drive or 120th St.
- Traffic on Killian Parkway in morning rush hour already extends to 137th Ave in the morning alone.
What I have
listed above however is something you hear all the time when
communities try to
fight roadway expansions. We
contacted
Representative Frank Artiles office when we first learned of the project and he was successful in facilitating the Oct 3rd hearing,
but FDOT again did very little to communicate this new meeting to affected
residents. With some
word of mouth and some community
involvement we did get a lot of people show up, but the FDOT
still provided
little information or provided few answers to those attending. What we did learn there
really pales in
caparison to what we now know about the project and how a
State Government that
claims they are pro consumer are actually attempting to gouge their own
citizens. So here is
what we now know:
The
Turnpike is a very congested roadway and the FDOT has done
nothing to add new
expressway systems further west as the population expanded
there over
time. That of course
leads to mass
congestion in existing expressways.
Their solution for the Turnpike is to add designer express lanes on an
already tolled system.
- The ramp they
want to add to Killian would only be for access to an
express lane system within the Turnpike expressway.
- The proposed
Killian parkway ramp alone is set to cost over 26 Million
dollars.
- The cost for this
one way ride on the express lanes can be tolled up to 6
dollars for a one way non-stop ride to the 836 with some stating that over time that dollar figure can go
up.
- There are already
two ramps within 3 miles of each other which sit between the
proposed Killian
Parkway ramp in
non-residential areas of which FDOT is refusing to consider
for these express lanes. That would be the ramps at Kendall Drive & SW 120th St.
- Each of these two
existing ramps receive about 45,000 cars daily, but this proposed
ramp is only expected to receive 7,000 vehicles which would use these
express lanes.
So therein
lies the problem. The
FDOT is catering
to the more affluent in the community which would be willing
to shell out up to
6 dollars a trip while the rest of those using this toll road
would remain
stuck in traffic. We,
just like those who
can afford this exorbitant toll, have to go to work everyday
to feed their families
but can not afford to spend up to $240 a month on a gouging
toll. The FDOT has
chosen to create designer
roadways for the more affluent in the community to bypass the less affluent. This is
outrageous and it’s not what the government
should be doing.
What I described above is a trend that State Governments nation wide,
pinched for cash, will being doing more of. We are just the
guinea pigs in this very expensive & ill conceived
experiment. RollBackTolls took video of the the Oct 3rd
meeting and will be placing segments of the meeting online soon. Please contact Florida Representative Frank Artiles to express your concerns.
