KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — Local leaders continue to answer questions about the Florida Department of Transportation’s road rehabilitation project that left dozens of South Florida drivers parked and stranded on a bridge Sunday, according to local reports.
FDOT said contractors shut down the westbound lane of the Rickenbacker Causeway Bridge Sunday so that “workers [can] rehabilitate concrete pavement on the bridge decks.” This closure, which was later partially reopened Monday, forced drivers to merge left off the bridge and caused bottleneck traffic lasting hours for most commuters.
Drivers coming from Key Biscayne and Virginia Key expressed their frustrations about the major traffic jam on social media after they found themselves stuck on the bridge with nowhere to go. One said they had to walk to a nearby grocery store to stock up for a night spent on the bridge after 9.5 hours of sitting in her car.
"I was ready 100% ready to make my car my shelter,” driver Christina Hammoud told CBS News Miami.
FDOT’s District 6 Secretary Stacy Miller contacted local leaders including The Village of Key Biscayne and provided some resolutions to the construction project that is set to continue for two more months, NBC 6 News reported.
"She has committed to relieving the problem today by opening one of the lanes and will inform the Village, City of Miami, and Miami-Dade County as soon as decisions have been made about the entire project approach and timeline," the city said in a statement to NBC 6.
For now, the Village of Key Biscayne and the Chamber of Commerce will provide constant updates on the project via social media. More than 2,000 residents also signed a petition calling for the project to be postponed until the summer when schools are not in session.
