Florida Department of Transportation studies U.S. 1 congestion

The Florida Department of Transportation is studying traffic congestion on US 1 from Kendall Drive to I-95 and is asking Miami-Dade residents to take a survey to help develop appropriate solutions.

The roughly 18-mile stretch of US 1 running through or along the Village of Pinecrest and cities of Miami, Coral Gables and South Miami “has significant impacts on community travel times, the environment and overall quality of life, the US 1 Corridor Planning Study website states.

In 2013, it was identified as a top priority corridor in the Florida Department of Transportation Listening Session.

Three years later, state transportation staff ran a study of US 1 between Southwest 152nd Street and I-95; however, its scope was later reduced to the length between Kendall Drive and I-95 to align with the county and its countywide transit improvement and expansion plan.

Dense development and adjacent transit facilities, including the Metrorail line, make significant widening of the thoroughfare impossible, state transportation personnel wrote, adding that multimodal options with minimal right-of-way impacts were being prioritized in the current study.

“A number of ongoing assessments, including the Underline Study and the South Dade Transitway Study, have been conducted on the corridor with the aim to meet the needs of local neighborhoods, business centers and transportation options,” they wrote. “The US 1 Corridor Study aims to unify these efforts, taking into consideration prior recommendations and current conditions to present recommended improvements that address the needs of all users.”

The supplemental survey takes about six minutes to complete and asks respondents:

■How often they use US 1.

■What their preferred or most frequently used mode of travel is.

■How many people they travel with.

■What their primary and secondary reasons for using US 1 are.

■To choose three traffic congestion solutions they’d prefer to see. Solutions include more transit stations, better bicycle safety, additional road markings, added vehicular safety, and enhanced pedestrian safety.

■To rank on a five-star scale how frequently they would use the listed solutions.

■To provide optional personal demographic details and contact information.

As of Oct. 9, almost 550 persons had taken the survey, according to statistics provided after the survey is taken.

Improved pedestrian safety topped their list of priorities, followed in descending order by increased vehicular safety, bicycle safety, transit station access and roadway markings.

Respondents said they used motor vehicles almost daily and seldom walked, biked or rode transit along the corridor.

State transportation personnel estimate the study will be completed by the end of the month.

For details and to take the study, visit www.fdotmiamidade.com/us1south.