18 Mile Stretch NB Lanes Closed 24/7 Until July 2…Due to Shoddy Work!
Leaving the Florida Keys will be a little more time consuming for the next two weeks due to the continuous closure of the northbound lane of U.S. 1 from Key Largo to Florida City. Beginning Thursday, northbound traffic will be diverted to Card Sound Road, a route that’s about five miles longer and takes about 10 to 15 minutes longer. Tolls will be lifted.
The reason for the closure: the southern portion of the $300 million plus road project to widen the 18-mile stretch, which was completed just a year ago, needs to be repaired, according to Jannette Lazo, spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Transportation. ”There are bumps and cracks on the road,” Lazo said. “The asphalt didn’t meet DOT specifications.”
The repairs are being done from mile marker 106 in Key Largo to the Miami-Dade/Monroe County line at mile marker 113. It will require digging about three feet deep and repairing the base rock and asphalt. The closure will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week until July 2. If the work isn’t completed, the closure will stop for the July 4 holiday weekend and resume July 6 through possibly July 16.
When that south section of the road was built, hundreds of acres of mangroves were cut down and mulched. That mulch was mixed with cement, the thick wetland muck the mangroves grew in and a ”slag” material containing iron to form a stabilizing layer under the roadbed. Lazo said there are cracks between the soil mix layer and the old roadway. FDOT directed the contractor, Granite Construction, to repair the road at their cost. [Didn't this get discussed at the time and we were assured it was a tried and true procedure?]
It will require digging about three feet deep and repairing the base rock and asphalt. Granite Construction was reportedly paid about $148 million for its portion of the controversial project to widen the road. Their contract included the construction of the new 1.4-mile Jewfish Creek Bridge. Other contractors are doing the ongoing work to widen the northern part of the stretch from mile marker 113 to 126 in Florida City. About 21,000 vehicles travel the 18-mile stretch daily.
”It is a major closure,” Lazo said. “But it’s an important repair that needs to be done. We can’t wait because of the weather, with hurricane season here.” Emergency services personnel and permitted wide-load vehicles will be provided access to the U.S. 1 northbound lane as needed.
Residents and businesses that reside along the stretch from mile marker 113 to mile marker 126 will be able to use northbound U.S. 1. Motorists are encouraged to call 511 or log on to 511southflorida.com to get real-time traffic and lane closure information about the 18-mile stretch.
Is anyone surprised that the 18-Mile Stretch is closed for rebuilding?
In any case, Card Sound Road is our last chance at survival if a serious hurricane does hit Monroe County. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist an hour-plus in stopped traffic to figure out that the tollbooth snarls traffic even when no toll is charged. Even the traffic cop at Ocean Reef’s left turn didn’t help much.
I am writing this in hopes that it will embarrass the administration into action to remove the obstruction at the tollbooth and to permit traffic to have the right of way at all times at Ocean Reef’s left turn.
It was hard enough for me to believe that they needed to cut through the barrier at different spots along the Stretch to allow access for emergency vehicles into the opposing lane. Great planning, folks. Now this.
Isn’t the primary reason for the “new” Stretch to provide improved emergency response time for accident victims and to provide excellent access for hurricane evacuation? What are they thinking?
I am sure that this simple requirement was clearly made when we spent the money. Perhaps we should blame the road builders. Yeah, we should make them pay, too. It’s not our fault. Let’s sue ‘em. too.