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Julia Tuttle Bike Lanes Are Not New, And Hardly Any Safer

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News reports promoted the Florida Department of Transportation's soon-to-be-completed improvements to the bike lanes on the Julia Tuttle Causeway, as way "safer" than what was there before. The Miami Herald played up the railing added to the top of an existing barrier and new electronic signs alerting drivers to how fast they are going. Now bicyclists could enjoy the bucolic Biscayne Bay on the bucolic highway shoulder without having to worry about ending up as roadkill.

Not being hardcore bicyclists (it's a long ride), just heading over there to check it out in the Curbedmobile (a car!), was a harrowing experience. Meanwhile, the City of Miami Beach is installing a meandering path separated by grass from the road, for the portion of the bike lane in its city limits. But that ends before the first bridge, even though there's lots of lush greenery and grassyness on the long straight stretch between the two bridges just begging for a leisurely meandering path through it. On the mainland side, the bike lane isn't even on the shoulder, probably because there isn't really a shoulder. It's the on-ramp itself. Umm yeah. Roadkill.
· FDOT to upgrade bicycle route on Tuttle causeway [Miami Herald]