Contractor picked for Venetian Causeway conversion to SunPass; expect change in Fall 2014

Miami-Dade County has finally hired a firm to handle the software conversion of the Venetian and Rickenbacker causeway toll systems to SunPass, but the change won’t be in place before fall 2014.

The change will convert the causeway to SunPass or toll-by-plate payment, residents were told in a Wednesday night gathering put together by the Venetian Way Alliance, the Venetian Island Homeowner Association and the Belle Isle Residents Association.

In other words: no cash, no toll takers, no toll arms that sometimes don’t go up, and no need for a special C-Pass lane for island residents.

It’s expected to reduce backups, but many island residents worried that greater efficiency will lure more traffic to a residential roadway.

Island property owners will still be able to pass through the causeway with a $24-a-year residents’ rate; their SunPass will have to be programmed for it.

The fall 2014 target is another delay in the conversion, which at one point had been planned for Fall 2012.  But no one at Wednesday’s meeting bemoaned the delay.  Most residents expressed concern that while the switch will make the toll booth easier to pass through, it will lure more traffic.

The Miami-Dade County representatives — Mike Bauman, the chief of the causeway division at Public Works; Tony Cotarela, the interim county engineer, and Chris Rose, deputy director of administration for Miami-Dade County — repeatedly heard from residents worried about traffic increases.

Bauman said that Miami-Dade has no choice but the make this change. The old system is failing from a technical standpoint, and state law requires that any new toll system be SunPass compatible.

“We contracted with a company that has done it in other places,” Bauman said.. “The contract is to install equipment…There will not longer be cash accepted in any way. It is our plan to remove toll gates and have free flowing traffic through the toll gates.

Rose said the county is considering a 25 cent increase in the $1.50 one-way causeway toll for the budget year that begns Oct. 1; residents asked for even greater toll increases to discourage additional traffic and create more revenue.

Ultimately, toll rates will be decided by the Miami-Dade Commission Rose said, not county staff or Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Other nuggets that emerged during nearly 90 minutes of discussion:

– The county expects to need to spend an estimated $110 million in 10 years to rebuild the dozen bridges that make up the causeway. Much of the money will need to come from toll revenue. So higher tolls are likely, and increased traffic volume times higher tolls (and less expense with automatic toll collection) helps pay the bill.

– The county is opening to future toll increases, and even the notion of variable tolls, like on the Interstate 95 express lanes. With variable tolls, it would cost more to cross the causeway when traffic is greater. SunPass can do that, Bauman said, adding “we would consider congestion pricing.”

– The county is likely to make the far right lane in each direction (now the C-Pass lane) into permanent bike and pedestrian lanes. That would still leave two lanes each way for SunPass, with no toll gates.

– The county will install “speedback signs” at several points on the cause that flash when drivers exceed the speed limit. The engineers believe these signs combined with enforcement do decrease speeding.

– The county said there is no data that suggests the change to automatic tolls will inrease traffic. But Bauman and Rose said the county has not done any kind of study that predicts how the change to automatic tolls will impact traffic.

This was the most contentious subject at the meeting. Residents asked that the county study the impact, and rejected the notion that the change won’t draw more cars.

Get answers to your questions about SunPass and the Venetian Causeway

The folks at Miami-Dade County’s Causeway Division have been talking about converting the toll collection system on the Venetian Causeway to SunPass for two-plus  years now.

And for just as long, residents from Belle Isle to Biscayne Island have worried that the system — though more efficient — will mean more cars and higher speed on the residential causeway that serves as a haven to runners, cyclists and residents.

In using SunPass instead of the current C-Pass transponders, island residents still would buy a $24 annual pass for the causeway, with a SunPass coded for the use. Other drivers would not longer have to pay by cash.

The most recent prediction from causeway chief Mike Bauman in January was the conversion — once anticipated in fall 2012, will happen at the end of this year.

On Tuesday, May 21, at 7 p.m., county representatives will answer questions at a forum hosted by the Venetian Way Neighborhood Alliance and sponsored jointly with the Belle Island Residents Association and Venetian Island Homeowners Association.

The meeting happens in the community room at 1000 Venetian Way on Biscayne Island, in view of the toll plaza. Among the discussion points on the table:

• Lowering the speed limit on the causeway from 30 miles
• The installation of speed feedback machines along causeway
• Toll lane narrowing
• Maintaining toll “arms”
• Higher tolls for non-residents and/or commuters
• Increased security (cameras, police, etc.)

The city of Miami Beach last week approved tag scanners and cameras for the Miami Beach portion of the causeway. The toll booth is in the city of Miami.

Venetian Homeowners to meet, talk Streetscape

The Venetian Islands Homeowners Association meets Thursday night and there is oh so much to talk about — from the upcoming Streetscape construction on Rivo Alto, San Marino and DiLido islands to causeway traffic and toll issues.

The meeting happens at 6:30 p.m. at 250 East San Marino Dr., on San Marino Island.

Among the items on the agenda:

– A report from the Miami Beach police department on island burglaries and efforts to blunt them

– The possibility of a hotel development on 17th Street and Alton Road

– A report on the Genting Project on the Miami Herald property

– Plans to switch Venetian Causeway toll collection to SunPass

And you have to believe the issue of house knockdowns and mega-mansions will arise as well.

Venetian Causeway will be converting to Sun Pass

By fall, toll collection on the Venetian Causeway will convert to Sun Pass, and island residents will be turning in their C Pass transponders.

Miami-Dade County’s Causeway Division — which oversees tolls on the Venetian and Rickenbacker causeways — is making the change on the Rickenbacker first, said Michael Bauman, causeways division chief for Miami-Dade Public Works.

Bauman says his best guess is the Rickenbacker transition will happen in June or July, and the Venetian change-over will take place around October.

As residents of the Venetian islands know, if you live on the causeway, you can purchase a C Pass transponder and pay $24 a year to cross the Venetian Causeway. If you don’t live on the island, the annual fee is $90. Without a transponder, it costs $1.50 every time a car crosses the toll booth on the west end of Biscayne Island.

After the conversion to Sun Pass, Venetian residents will still pay the $24 annual fee. There is no increase in tolls planned.

C Pass owners must renew their pass each May, and this year will be no different.  During the summer, the county will begin an informational campaign on the change to Sun Pass, Bauman said.

“You’ll renew as normal,” he said. “When we get closer, we’ll advise everyone with an active account about the changes.”

The county will hold meetings with causeway homeowner groups and also have representatives  visit condos on Biscayne and Belle Isle to give residents the opportunity to turn in their C Pass transponders have their Sun Pass converted to work  at the causeway toll booth.

After the transition, the county will continue to maintain one toll booth lane east and west for drivers paying cash, but the Sun Pass devices will work on all lanes.

It should enable smoother traffic flow, Bauman said, but the county still wants the toll plaza to serve as a “calming” influence to ensure the causeway doesn’t become a speedway.

It’s a road that has lots of bicycle and foot traffic, in addition to being completely residential.

“It’s important that we don’t turn it into a throughway,” Bauman said.

In addition to no longer needing two transponders, the new system will allow people to renew and pay their annual fee online, without having to mail in paper work to prove residency, Bauman said.