Last night’s “Urban Design, Transportation & Capital Improvement Programs” committee meeting at the offices of the Miami Downtown Development Authority covered a range of topics:
- Complete Streets for Livable Transportation
- Signage & Wayfinding
- Downtown Parking Solutions
- Baywalk
- Biscayne Green
- Event Management Traffic Plan
- Progress on Flagler Street streetscape improvements
- Miami River bridge openings
One of my favorite (hoped for) projects is Biscayne Green. Tonight’s discussion included the announcement that Pop-Up Park project submitted to the Knight Cities Challenge is one of the finalists. The Miami Downtown Development Authority plans to create “a pop-up park and urban forest along Biscayne Boulevard to drive momentum for “Biscayne Green,” a proposal to redesign Biscayne Boulevard to include a pedestrian promenade.”
There was an interesting discussion on downtown parking solutions which included the possibility of underground parking as part of Biscayne Green, and a proposal for underwater parking in the historic FEC boat slip between Museum Park and the American Airlines Arena. I find the idea of underwater parking fascinating – Copenhagen is building a 510 space underwater car park with a 15,000 square meter pedestrian pier on top for special events. Not in the FEC slip though.
Other highlights included an update on the Flagler Streetscape Improvement Project, which began on January 4, and the Miami Baywalk project which is still dragging along.