Miami Herald
December 4, 2009

Build the entire Everglades Skyway

What happens at Rock Reef Pass, on the outskirts of Shark River Slough — the Everglades' largest freshwater tributary — will determine if South Florida stays or goes. Shark River Slough has lost up to three feet of soil, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A single inch of Everglades soil (a mix of algae and decaying plant matter that took a century to form) now dries out in a couple years or burns within hours. Shark River Slough has lost more than half of its soil, according to the EPA, and some areas are less than two feet high. Simply put, the Everglades is sinking, and fast.
    This process began more than 80 years ago, when Miami entrepreneur Frank Jaudon built the Tampa-to-Miami Tamiami Trail. His grand plan was to turn land south of the Trail into housing subdivisions, sugarcane fields and oil-well sites. With the Tamiami Trail acting as a dam, hundreds of thousands of acres of land south of the road began drying out and sinking.
    A sinking Everglades would be bad enough, but when combined with a rising sea level, it spells disaster for wildlife and humans. As the rising saltwater enters the Everglades from Florida Bay, it also begins to spread into the Biscayne Aquifer, the rock formation that holds our drinking water. After rendering drinking wells useless, the saltwater eventually floods the Everglades and our neighborhoods.
    Fortunately, there is a way out: the Everglades Skyway, long bridges elevating the vast majority of 11 miles over Shark River Slough. Government scientists have continually said the Skyway is the best alternative for full restoration. After years of wrangling and false starts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers settled on a bridge one-tenth of the Skyway's length. It is called Phase I. But Phase II needs to arrive quickly because sea-level rise is not waiting for us.
    Miami-Dade's Climate Change Advisory Task Force, headed by some of the best scientists in South Florida, predicts a three- to five-foot rise in sea level by 2100. The report says the saltwater from Florida Bay will head north overtopping the land and infiltrating our underground source of drinking water.
    Today, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will cut the ribbon on construction of the Corps' one-mile bridge. However, this bridge is not enough to save us. Our only hope is for more bridging. Fortunately, the National Park Service is now considering up to five miles more of bridging with a report to Congress expected early next year. The cost of building bridges has fallen by half in the past two years, and the stimulus act has injected billions of unspent dollars into the budget. With the appropriate funding, we could restore Everglades water flow, provide more than 6,000 new jobs and, with an elevated view of the Everglades, usher in an international tourism magnet within three years.
    The time has come to build the Everglades Skyway. Restoring water flow across the vast majority of this 11-mile stretch of Tamiami Trail would keep the Everglades from sinking further and give us the fresh water to counter inevitable catastrophe.

JONATHAN ULLMAN
South Florida/Everglades senior field organizer, Sierra Club, Miami

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Why restore the Everglades’ flow?
Sierra Club’s Jonathan Ullman takes
the CBS Morning Show on a tour
of this beautiful endangered landscape

Click here for video

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Miami Herald
February 22, 2007

Transit planners endorse Everglades Skyway plan

Miami-Dade transportation planners voted unanimously today to support an 11-mile elevated road across Tamiami Trail called the Everglades Skyway.
    The Metropolitan Planning Organization, composed of members of the Miami-Dade commission and officials from the county's largest cities, also voted to send the recommendation to Gov. Charlie Crist, leaders of the Florida Legislature and the South Florida congressional delegation.
    The resolution was backed by the Everglades Skyway Coalition, a diverse group of governments, business organizations and environmental groups.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to rebuild the 11-mile segment of the trail with a one-mile bridge followed by eight miles of dirt berm and another two-mile bridge at an estimated cost of $128 million.
    The coalition believes an 11-mile bridge, with an estimated price tag near $300 million, would be better for the environment and provide a tourist attraction that would bolster the local economy.

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Miami Herald Editorial
February 20, 2007

Build skyway bridge right the first time

Our Opinion :
An Elevated Everglades Roadway Improves Sheetflow

On Thursday the Miami-Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization is expected to approve a resolution favoring building an 11-mile elevated skyway to replace the Tamiami Trail roadbed through the Everglades. The MPO, the transportation planning agency comprised of county commissioners and mayors of the county's largest cities, is making the right choice. Now, the MPO and a diverse coalition of skyway supporters have to persuade state and federal officials to make the same choice — and then help pay for it.

Main issue is money
No small feats, these. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agrees that the skyway is the environmentally best way to replace the aging roadbed. The road dams off sheet flow to Everglades National Park, Florida Bay and the 10,000 Islands area. The aging road is due for replacement, but the Corps has opted for a surface road with two bridges — one-mile and two-miles long, respectively. This will increase water flow but certainly won't restore it to healthy levels. The Corps' plan contradicts the ambitious $8 billion-plus Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to repair the damage wrought by more than a half century of ditching, draining, flood control projects and ever encroaching development.
    The main issue, apparently, is money. The Corps' road plan will cost $128 million. The skyway's price tag is $300 million. The Corps says there just isn't enough money to build the skyway and all the other CERP projects that the federal and state governments must jointly fund. But in our view, there is another issue — a lack of vision. How can the Corps and the other stakeholders in CERP justify spending more than $8 billion to restore historic levels of clean water to the "River of Grass" but then plop down another dam in the midst of those projects?
    The skyway needs to be built. It would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to spend billions of dollars on restoration only to sabotage that work with a flawed drainage system.

Good for tourism
The local skyway coalition includes environmental and business groups, builders and tourism officials. They point to a Corps study that says skyway construction would produce more than $600 million in new revenue and 6,000 new jobs. The Corps' road plan would also increase both at a lesser rate.
    Tourism officials believe the skyway could become a tourist-friendly highway, like Blue Ridge Skyway in Virginia.
    MPO Director Jose Mesa is researching potential new funding sources to supplement the federal money. To show state and federal officials the county's commitment, the MPO should look for a way to provide a proportionate local contribution as well. Others can be inspired to shoulder a burden by an offer to share the load.

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Miami Herald
February 12, 2007

Everglades Skyway concept has broad support
Larry Lebowitz

It is, on its face, a highly unusual coalition: hard-core environmentalists arm-in-arm with tourism boosters and the development interests that dominate most chambers of commerce.
    But the Everglades Skyway isn't your garden-variety transportation pipe dream: replacing 11 miles of Tamiami Trail from just west of Krome Avenue to an area near the ValuJet crash site memorial with a signature bridge -- and a view unlike any other.
    "You have to admit it, it's a pretty rare day when the environmental community is banding together with the business community, the chambers of commerce, to promote a road project or a bridge," said Jonathan Ullman of the Sierra Club and the brains behind the Build the Skyway coalition. "But that's what's happening here."
    Environmentalists love the Skyway concept because it would help restore the historic sheet water flows into Everglades National Park, 10,000 Islands and Florida Bay that have been stopped by the veritable dam that is the Trail.
    Tourism boosters envision the Skyway as a one-of-a-kind, concrete-and-steel attraction that is a mini-version of the Blue Ridge Parkway or the 30-mile stretch of Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya swamp in Louisiana.
    And the construction, engineering and development community would have more than 300 million reasons to support the skyway.

Competing Priorities
But there''s nowhere near enough money set aside to do it. It's the same old transportation song-and-dance: not enough cash and too many competing priorities.
    The current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to rebuild the 11-mile stretch of Tamiami Trail is decidedly less romantic — and, at $128 million, vastly cheaper — than the pie-in-the-Skyway.
    "There's no doubt that the Skyway is the environmentally preferred alternative," said Corps project supervisor Dennis Duke. "It's a matter of money. If Congress says they want a bigger bridge, then we'll build a bigger bridge."
    More than a decade in the making, the Corps is planning to build dual bridges — a one-mile span near Krome and a two-mile span near the ValuJet memorial separated by eight miles of slightly wider, higher, improved roadway.
    The Corps' last cost estimates for the dual-bridge plan is more than two years old — and concrete, steel and labor costs have shot through the roof during that period.
    A new estimate is due in 30 to 60 days, said Dennis Duke, Everglades project supervisor for the Corps. Duke said under the current timetables, the 36-month construction project could break ground in March 2008.
    Which is why time is growing short for the Build the Skyway coalition.
    Ullman is hoping that a united South Florida front could persuade legislators to consider any number of options — including a toll road — to give the Corps the money to finance the other eight miles of bridges.
    The coalition leaders recently briefed the new speaker of the Florida House, West Miami's Marco Rubio. If the enviros were hoping to have enlisted a powerful local champion for their cause, they better rethink their strategy.
    "It will just go into the whole budget conversation," said Rubio spokeswoman Jill Chamberlain. "It will be on the table if somebody puts it on the table, along with everything else."

Political Will Needed
Doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement.
     North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, who has pushed the skyway alternative as a member of the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization, realizes that the Skyway is going to need a patron saint in either Washington or Tallahassee.
    "There's got to be the political will to do this," Burns said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime signature bridge. We could do something great here."

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Miami Today
December 14, 2006

Transportation agency endorses skyway
over 11-mile stretch of Tamiami Trail
Dan Dolan

Despite objections by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Miami-Dade's Metropolitan Planning Organization last week lined up behind a plan to replace a key section of Tamiami Trail with an 11-mile-long, $300 million elevated skyway that would help restore natural water flow through the environmentally sensitive Everglades.
    After an appeal from business people, local governments and environmentalists, Metropolitan Planning Organization board members led by North Miami Mayor Kevin A. Burns told staffers to look for ways to fund the project, which would replace existing federal plans to build a $128 million three-mile long bridge in the heart of the Everglades and widen another eight miles of Tamiami Trail beginning just west of Krome Avenue.
   Sierra Club representative Jonathan Ullman, who heads a coalition pushing for the skyway, told the planning organization the Army Corp's project doesn't do enough to restore Everglades water flow, which scientists say is vital to improving South Florida's aquifer and fragile eco-systems.
   "Tamiami Trail, which was built in 1928, acts as a giant dam that traps water on the north side," Mr. Ullman said. "That has resulted in major changes to the environment on both sides of the roadway. It is strangling Florida Bay."
   Mr. Ullman said the Army's plan won't fully fix the dam effect since eight miles of the roadway will still be blocking water flow. A skyway, which is essentially a road built on concrete stilts, would allow water to flow naturally, he said.
   But Bryce McKoy, the Army's Tamiami Trail project manager, said a skyway would cost too much money. He said the feds considered the project but rejected it for financial reasons.
   "There's no doubt the skyway would have many environmental benefits, but we don't have the money to do it," Mr. McKoy said. "We had to pick an alternative that was within our budget."
   Mr. McKoy said the Army intends to push ahead with its project no matter what action the Metropolitan Planning Organization takes in the immediate future.
   "We expect construction to begin in March 2008. We should be done in about 36 months," Mr. McKoy said. "We're building to get the best flow we can based on our budget. This is just one phase of a massive Everglades restoration project. But the other phases can't start until this one is done."
   At this point, Mr. McKoy said, switching to a skyway would delay all phases of Everglades restoration five years or more — and squander millions already spent on design, engineering studies and other planning. He said it would take a special act of Congress to provide funding for a skyway and authorize a change in plans.
   That's exactly what the Metropolitan Planning Organization hopes to accomplish. Panel members said more than money is at stake.
   "We can't let cost be the only factor in this decision," Mr. Burns said. "We have to look at what will be best for south Florida a hundred years from now, not just how much we're going to pay. A skyway is the most environmentally sound plan. We should pursue it aggressively."
   But panel members stopped short of saying local and county government should pick up the tab. They asked staffers to find state and federal funding. They said they would formally petition Congress to approve a skyway at the panel's meeting next month.
   Mr. Ullman said his coalition's research shows a scenic skyway would increase tourism and generate 6,100 new jobs in addition to helping improve the environment.

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Miami Herald
April 26, 2005

Build skyway to restore free flow of fresh water
Florentine Phillips Liegerot

Seventy-seven years ago today, my great uncle, James Franklin Jaudon, finally opened his road. It had taken him 15 years to sway local politicians and businessmen to secure the funding, blast through limestone and plow through miles of muck and sawgrass. But when Uncle Frank's road finally opened, the entire town threw a parade that would make today's Calle Ocho organizers smile. You may not know my Uncle Frank, but you know his road -- the Tamiami Trail.
    Before the Great War, Uncle Frank's passion for building a road across the Everglades had ignited a fire within the Miami business community. His relentless pitch sold Tallahassee and local politicians on a 283-mile road from Tampa to Miami (hence "'Tamiami") The Trail would become Miami's passion mainly because it was his passion. In the Miami City Cemetery, his tombstone reads "Father of Tamiami Trail," as a tribute to his foresight and resolve.
    Despite the success of Uncle Frank's road, an unforeseen problem arose. The road and the adjoining canal and levee formed a dam, blocking the main flow of water through the Everglades and Florida Bay. Drainage projects intensified this problem, and adequate water flows were no longer available.
    Wading birds and other wildlife were dying out, and Florida Bay, a haven for aquatic life, was starving for lack of fresh water.
    Three quarters of a century later, and five years into the world's largest restoration project, the road is still a dam. Scientists have reported that without restoration of the free flow of fresh water into the Everglades, the
    $8.4 billion Everglades Restoration project will fail. Saving Florida's magnificent Everglades depends upon the engineering and construction of an 11-mile elevated skyway, like the one on I-10 in Louisiana.
    This is not just some do-gooder project. The economic arguments for building the Trail in the 1920s are the same as those for elevating it today. The skyway will be a multimillion-dollar public-works project creating hundreds of local road construction and fabrication jobs. It will also inject millions of dollars into local businesses.
    Economic benefits to South Florida will become even greater, as news of the 11-mile skyway hits tourist publications and international newspapers. It will join the Seven Mile Bridge in the Keys and Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as a world-renowned international destination. And, because the kyway is a federal project, federal funds will cover more than 90 percent of the cost, while Miami-Dade and Monroe counties receive most of the economic benefit.
    In addition to environmental and economic issues, safety is a major factor in elevating the Trail. During tropical storms and hurricanes, water often covers the road, making safe evacuation difficult or impossible. The 11 miles from Krome Avenue to Shark Valley are in terrible disrepair. I recently drove the Trail and was distressed by the crumbling road surfaces, the too-narrow shoulders and steeply slanting roads alongside the deep canal. Thousands of wildlife are killed or injured here annually, and a sudden swerve by a vehicle into the small guardrail could easily result in human tragedy.
     The skyway project will provide Miami with jobs, expand tourism, enhance safety and protect the environment. Without question, the skyway is a win-win project.
    As a Republican, a conservationist and a descendant of the man who built Tamiami Trail, I encourage South Florida's leadership to vigorously support the proposed elevated skyway. This summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a public hearing on the 11-mile skyway and will accept public comment. In December, it will make a final decision.
    It's time for the Greater Miami leadership to push the skyway project forward. It should engage U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez, U.S.
    Reps. Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart and Gov. Jeb Bush to ensure the survival of the unique Everglades as nature intended.
    No other project captures the spirit of Uncle Frank and Miami, a man and a town who led with their passions. Tamiami Trail was a marvel in 1928. It will be again in 2008