Safety on Crandon: Council Considers Crosswalk Solutions

One of the crosswalks from Grand Bay Drive to the Village Green, where many children cross for after-school activities during rush hour, Dec. 12 (Annali Hayward/Key News)

The intersection between Grand Bay Drive and Crandon Boulevard was the sticking point in one of the meatier discussions of Tuesday’s Village Council meeting. It came as engineering firm The Corradino Group was invited to present its findings from a traffic engineering study on pedestrian safety along the Village’s main thoroughfare. 

Former Mayor Robert Vernon spoke during public comments to press the Council to quickly improve the crossing to avoid an imminent accident — and to include his constituents, the Grand Bay Master Association, in the process.

Edward Ng, Technical Vice President of Corradino, said the frequency of crashes on Crandon during the period of their study (2013-2017) was found to be five times higher than projections expected in the Highway Manual. The report says the Grand Bay intersection had six crashes in those five years, second only to the Harbor Drive intersection, with eight.

The Council was united on one thing: a sense of urgency to address the crossing and avoid potential accidents. “We received [the report] in August 2018,” said Mayor Mike Davey. “We should move faster on this.”

But discussion ensued on the right fix. Corradino recommended removing the crosswalk, but many Council members felt children would still dart across dangerously and a different approach would be necessary.

The solution favored by most Council members, a traffic light, requires a process known as “signal warrant analysis” to assess whether it would be feasible with the traffic volume on the rest of the street, which is owned by Miami-Dade County.

Council Member Luis Lauredo grew increasingly frustrated with what he called “study fatigue,” grilling Ng on the merits of using common sense to make the decision vs. the study’s “objective criteria.”

Davey wanted to pursue the analysis anyway, calling it the “ultimate solution,” and in the meantime deploy short-term fixes. Council Member Allison McCormick suggested getting cost estimates for crossing guards to be stationed there at peak times.

Davey allowed Vernon to speak at the end of the discussion, and while Vernon thanked the Council for the discussion, he cautioned against “doing something to do something,” wanting “long-term fixes not short-term solutions.” He also said some trees could be removed to allow better visibility of signage for drivers.

Other solutions discussed were barriers forcing pedestrians to walk to the next intersection to cross and the yellow flashing lights used elsewhere along Crandon, with which many Council members voiced dissatisfaction.

The issue relates to several other projects currently underway for Village staff, including the Safe Routes to Schools initiative and improvements to bike lanes. Lauredo opposed deeper discussion of the latter, insisting to Village Manager Andrea Agha she should treat the issues separately. 

“We can do multiple things at the same time,” countered Davey.