Miami Beach plan to reopen Ocean Drive to cars put on hold
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The bike lanes on Ocean Drive will be removed. Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Miami Beach officials removed the pedestrian plaza from Ocean Drive, but plans to return two-way car traffic to the South Beach street are on hold for now, the Miami Herald reports.
Why it matters: A judge ordered that the iconic tourist strip, which the city converted into a pedestrian promenade during COVID-19, be returned to its pre-pandemic traffic flow following a lawsuit from the Clevelander South Beach Hotel.
Catch up quick: Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez, who determined city no longer had a valid permit to modify the road configuration, originally gave the city until Jan. 31 to comply with her order to reopen Ocean Drive.
- City officials have used court-granted extensions and a recent appeal to delay acting on the Jan. 8 order.
- Butchko Sanchez ruled again on Wednesday that the city must comply with the order while it awaits a hearing before the Third District Court of Appeal.
The latest: City manager Eric Carpenter said Friday that work crews would immediately begin removing the two-block pedestrian plaza between 13th Street and 14th Place.
- Crews were expected to begin converting Ocean Drive back to two-way traffic and removing the existing bicycle lane on Monday, according to a city memo sent to commissioners Thursday night.
Yes, but: The city appealed Wednesday's ruling, and the Third District Court of Appeal froze Butchko Sanchez's order.
- A city spokesperson told the Miami Herald that it had paused plans to convert Ocean Drive to two-way traffic and remove an existing bicycle lane.
- The conversion of Ocean Drive would have required the entire roadway between Fifth and 15th streets to be closed for two days while crews paint and re-stripe the road, the memo says.
What's next: Beyond the legal battle, city leaders said at a meeting Friday that they want to act on the city's long-term vision of pedestrianizing Ocean Drive — in a way that helps business owners, locals and tourists.
- "The street right now is as safe, as clean and as family friendly [and] inviting as we've ever had on Ocean Drive," Mayor Steven Meiner said.