Alton Road Flyover Closed For Month-Long Construction
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Traffic is no longer flowing on the Alton Road flyover now that construction shut it down on Tuesday.
The month-long closure of the heavily traveled road was delayed due to rain Sunday and Monday but it is now officially closed.
The flyover, which takes drivers from the MacArthur Causeway to Miami Beach via Alton Road, will have the guardrail replaced and base rebuilt during the 30-day construction project.
If the project runs behind schedule, the contractor would be charged $5,000 a day for up to five days.
Some drivers said the construction will take traffic from bad to worse, while other called it the price of progress.
View Alton_Road_Flyover_Construction Map
"It's going to be chaos," Ivan Ramirez said from behind the wheel of his taxi.
Ramirez drives from downtown Miami to the beach via the MacArthur Causeway, sometimes multiple times a day.
He's rethinking his route now that the flyover is set to close temporarily.
"I'm definitely going to avoid heading in from 395," Ramirez told CBS4's Lauren Pastrana.
Since learning of the impending closure, Ramirez and other drivers have been preparing for delays.
"It's already tough to get on the beach," Nima Noori said. "Traffic is already bad, and it's going to get even worse."
Noori said he lives in Downtown Miami and often visits the beach on weekends.
"I'll probably stop coming here," he said. At least until the construction is done.
"It's going to be a mess I think," Philip Maranges, a Miami Beach, said. "It's always backed up as it is."
The flyover project is just one part of a plan to improve drainage along Alton Road.
The Florida Department of Transportation has provided these detour routes for travelers:
- Motorists traveling east on the MacArthur Causeway who wish to travel north on Alton Road will have to continue east on Fifth Street and turn north on Alton Road.
- Motorists traveling south on Alton Road who wish to travel east on Fifth Street will have to turn east on Eighth Street, turn south on Lenox Avenue and then turn east on Fifth Street.
- Motorists south of Fifth Street who are traveling north on Alton Road and wish to continue north will have to turn east on Fourth Street, turn north on Lenox Avenue, then turn west on Fifth Street and finally turn north on Alton Road.
- Motorists south of Fifth Street who are traveling north on Alton Road and wish to travel west on the MacArthur Causeway will have to turn east on Fourth Street, turn north on Lenox Avenue, then turn west on Fifth Street and then continue west on Fifth Street to the Causeway.
- Motorists will be able to travel south on Alton Road to access westbound MacArthur Causeway.
- Motorists will not be able to cross east or west on Alton Road at Sixth Street.
