Elevated Lane for Mass Transit Part of Options Offered to Unclog I-595

Typography
For residents who live along Interstate 595, getting to work in 20 years might mean walking across an air-conditioned bridge over the highway to a sleek bus or train running in the median.

For residents who live along Interstate 595, getting to work in 20 years might mean walking across an air-conditioned bridge over the highway to a sleek bus or train running in the median.


Drivers could buy their way out of congestion by paying a toll to use a system of elevated express lanes built on top of the transit line.


Both ideas are part of the Florida Department of Transportation's vision for easing east-west commuting woes with a combination of road and transit improvements along I-595, a highway that became obsolete only a few years after opening in 1989.


Early discussions focused on building an elevated track for buses or light rail trains on private land south of eastbound State Road 84 and putting the express lanes at ground-level in the median.


But state planners say land costs could be reduced by elevating the express lanes and moving the transit line to the median or a sliver of state-owned land between the eastbound lanes of I-595 and S.R. 84.


"There are some things we can do to maximize use of existing right of way and reduce the overall impacts of the project," said Steve Braun, a state engineer overseeing the project.


"One of the challenges of putting transit in the median is finding a way to get people there."


Construction wouldn't begin until 2011 at the earliest and would likely take a decade to complete.


Most of the residents who attended a public meeting on the project Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale were more concerned about the noise that an expanded highway might bring rather than how it would improve their commute.


Robert Krycki said the roar of airplanes taking off from the airport is the only thing that drowns out traffic passing by his Lauderdale Isles home north of I-595. But he acknowledged the highway must be improved.


"From 4:30 to 6 during the week, westbound traffic is at an absolute standstill," Krycki said.


The state is considering four options for I-595. Each includes:
--Reversible express lanes for long distance commuters between I-75 and S.R.7.
--Completing S.R. 84 between Davie Road and S.R. 7.
--"Collector-distributor roads" between I-95 and Davie Road that move entrance and exit ramps away from the main flow of traffic, similar to lanes that parallel I-95 between I-595 and Broward Boulevard.
--Braided ramps that take entering traffic over or under exit ramps.
--A mass transit line from Office Depot Center to downtown Fort Lauderdale and the airport. The I-595 segment would run from Southwest 136th Avenue to S.R. 7.


From there, the options differ in the location of the express lanes and the transit line.


The first option would build the two reversible express lanes at ground level in the median and run an elevated transit line south of eastbound S.R. 84 at an estimated construction cost of $907 million. Land costs would be about $130 million.


The other options would build the transit line on state land. Officials don't have land cost estimates for those options yet but say logic tells them they will be lower since they wouldn't have to buy as much land.


The second option would keep the express lanes in the median but build an elevated transit line between eastbound I-595 and eastbound S.R. 84. Officials estimate construction would cost $882.3 million.


The third option would build three elevated, reversible express lanes in the median and run the transit line underneath. The construction would cost $937.7 million.


The fourth option would keep the elevated express lanes in the median but move I-595's regular lanes underneath and put the transit line between eastbound I-595 and eastbound S.R. 84. The construction would cost $1.1 billion. I-595 handles about 189,000 vehicles a day at its busiest point east of S.R. 7.


After the state spends nearly a billion to improve the highway, traffic forecasts show I-595 will be more congested than it is today because the county is projected to grow by another 940,000 in 25 years.


By 2034, the state predicts traffic will double to 360,000 vehicles a day west of the turnpike.


Braun, the project engineer, said I-595 will "operate better" because areas that cause traffic backups today will be gone.


The braided ramps, for example, will eliminate the weaving between entrance and exit ramps that are too close. Scott Seeburger, another state engineer, said the express lanes would charge tolls electronically with SunPass, varying the tolls as congestion changes to control the flow of traffic.


If traffic ground to a halt in the regular "free" lanes, Seeburger said, drivers would have the option of a congestion-free ride in the express lanes, provided they're willing to pay a toll for the privilege. "The idea is to keep the express lanes free-flowing," he said.


To see more of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com. Copyright (c) 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel