Alton Road construction to add northbound detour at 17th Street

The two-year-plus Alton Road reconstruction project, which began April 1 between 17th Street and Michigan Avenue, gets a little more inconvenient next week.

Alton roadwork during spring 1013.

Northbound traffic on Alton Road will be detoured at 17 Street east to Meridian Avenue, north to Dade Boulevard and then north on Michigan Avenue before continuing north on Alton.

Southbound traffic on Alton between Michigan and Dade Boulevard will remain open, although one southbound lane may be closed daily, and left turns may be restricted.

The northbound detour is expected to last through September 2013.

According to the Florida Department of Transportation, which is running the project, the detour will enable the contractor to begin excavating the roadway to prepare for the new water main installation.

Venetian Causeway completion timetable slides to October

Five weeks ago, we reported that Miami-Dade County hoped to finish the Venetian Causeway construction project by mid-September.

The county now says the likely completion date is late October.

Why more delay in a project already nine months behind schedule?

Tropical Storm (and later hurricane) Isaac brought work to a halt. There were more suprises with underground utilities. We’ll let Miami-Dade spokeswoman Gayle Love give details:

“The Contractor has experienced further weather-related delays, as well as delays caused by the installation of the outfalls on Rivo Alto and San Marco, where unforeseen conflicts found during excavation led to the redesign of the configuration for the outfalls.  Additional delays were experienced during coordination with the City of Miami Beach for the connection of the irrigation meters to the water distribution lines in Belle Island, Rivo Alto, Di Lido and San Marino.”

Remember that workers spent days clearing equipment and debris just before Isaac moved through. Then Miami Beach Public Works had to deal with the water main break on Belle Isle on Venetian Way just west of Island Avenue.

Of course, once the main causeway work is done, construction will continue on the individual islands. And the city of Miami is building a storm-water pump stations and piping on San Marco Island, and Miami-Dade Water and Sewer is installing water mains on Biscayne Island.

Seems like it never ends.

Water service restored on Belle Isle; residents advised to boil water as precaution

City workers repairing water main break on Belle Isle early Sunday.

Miami Beach Public Works employees battled wind and rain from Tropical Storm Isaac to patch the last of four broken water mains and restored water service to Belle Isle at roughly 2:50 p.m.

The final fix was made in an 8-inch pipe under Venetian Way just east of the bridge to Rivo Alto Isle.

Miami Beach is advising Belle Isle resident to boil water as a precaution until the water can be tested to determine it is safe. That is likely to take two days.

The same is true for residents of Sunset Harbour and Alton Road and West Avenue who received a similar advisory on Saturday.

The fix in the Belle Isle main marked the end of a 36-hour period when four city water lines failed – two 20-inch mains in Sunset Harbour, a smaller line on Rivo Alto and the Belle Isle water line.

Water main work begins on Rivo Alto

On Rivo Alto, water main work required closing the southwest access to the island.

Work started promptly on the Venetian Causeway island water mains on Monday, and by Thursday the south cross streets on Rivo Alto were blocked off and on all day. But the overall traffic impact wasn’t that severe.

The project will take three months, and is the prelude to streetscape improvements that will be done by the county. The water main work is a city of Miami Beach project.

The city and the Venetian Island Homeowners Association distributed an Venetian Causeway Fact Sheet[1] on the project that pledges there will be only minimal traffic, pedestrian and water service disruption while the work is being done.

We’ll keep you posted.

Venetian Causeway construction to start Aug. 30; work could mean traffic delays

The long-awaited work on the Venetian Causeway is about to start with the installation of new water mains on Rivo Alto, DiLido and San Marino islands.

Warning signs went up Monday cautioning causeway drivers to expect delays starting Aug. 30.

Roberto Rodriguez, capital project coordinator for the city of Miami Beach, said the water main work is in advance of the Venetian Causeway streetscape project overseen by Miami-Dade County.

The streetscape project will include the installations of new sidewalks, crosswalk pavers, lighting and landscaping along the Venetian and circling the three islands.

The streetscape project has been delayed because of contract snafus. Miami Beach believes that work will start on the Belle Isle end of the causeway and move west, so the city wants to get the water main work out of the way before the street scape project gets rolling.

The water main work will take about three months to complete, Rodriguez said. “Traffic disruptions will be minimal and sporadic,” he said, and one lane will always remain open during the work, which will begin on Rivo Alto Island and then move west.

Water main work on each island is expected to take about a month — with about two weeks of active construction on each, Rodriguez said.

“We’re hoping to go faster, do it quicker, but that’s our schedule,” Rodriguez said.