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multiple developers building thousands of new homes west of I-75, as well as the Graham Companies, which also has planned a huge project in the same area.
Lennar Homes, for example, paid $41 million last summer for 130 acres next to another 143 acres it purchased six months earlier for $71 million. Then, in December, it picked up another 100 or so acres for $51 million.
Surely, that bridge would be a welcome bonus to Lennar as well.
The people of Palm Springs North don’t think it will be a bonus for them, said Scavuzzo, who represents about 6,000 
residents. And they hired attorney and former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi to fight it.
“Carlos Hernandez and Hialeah are building massive development west of this bridge. The Graham Companies have a proposal to build thousands of homes west of this bridge. The mega mall is going to be west of this bridge,” Pizzi told Ladra, seemingly happy and comfortable back in his rabble-rousing, advocacy attorney role. “And until we know what the impact of these developments will be, opening the bridge is irresponsible. You may flood Palm Springs North with traffic. Right now, it already takes 40 minutes to drive two miles.
“We don’t want the traffic from Hialeah and the Graham Companies and the mega mall, all 100,000 trips, in Miami Lakes and Palm Springs North where we already have gridlock,” Pizzi said.
Longtime political observers might recognize this as the latest battle in a years-long war by Miami Lakes and PSN residents to distance and separate themselves from Hialeah, which included the town getting its own zip code so 
Hialeah — the closest postal city — didn’t have to be on their address.
But Scavuzzo said it’s also part of the problem they have with Bovo, who represents all three areas but seems to favor his hometown, where the commissioner started as a Hialeah council member. PSN and Miami Lakes residents and leaders have told Ladra over the years that they feel like Bovo’s red-headed step-children, like he sells them out for his Hialeah constituents, who are his real blood children.
“He told me he’d do anything within his power to keep it closed,” Scavuzzo said. He said he spoke to Bovo after the community council forwarded the mega mall’s application to the county commission because he was concerned about the traffic. “He said he didn’t want to see either the 154th Street bridge or the 170th Street bridge opened. He knows there’s already gridlock in this area.”
Scavuzzo called Bovo Saturday after he learned the bridge resolution would be on Wednesday’s agenda, he told Ladra. “I told him, ‘You gave us your word. You’re willing to suffer the consequences?’ and he said ‘I’m willing.’ He’s been lying to us.”
“The problem we keep getting from Commissioner Bovo is that he makes us promises and he never keeps them,” Scavuzzo said.
Cid told Ladra he never heard such assurances and Bovo, who acknowledge the phone call Saturday, said he never made any. “I’ve never said those bridges would not be opened. On the contrary, I’ve always said both of these bridges are going to be o
pened eventually.
“What I told Robert a year ago was that nobody had asked me about opening the bridge,” Bovo said, adding that it wasn’t an issue until the recent development.
“While a group of residents may not want it, the reality is our historically poor planning has led to this situation,” Bovo told Ladra. “We’re looking at how many more people are coming in [west of I-75] between 186th and 154th street…This has nothing to do with the mall. There is still enough significant activity going up apart from that.
“With all this development, definitely opening up 170th and 154th is going to open a pressure valve for people to get out,” Bovo said.
A pressure valve. That’s an interesting analogy. Because what happens when you open a pressure valve? You spread whatever was building the pressure wider, that’s what.
Which is exactly what Scavuzzo and Cid and Pizzi worry about: the pressure eases on the west side but increases on the east, in their neighborhoods. And they ask why should they suffer the result of Hialeah’s more liberal zoning code and development process? What good is it to have stricter development codes if someone across the street can build much higher density and then open a bridge to get to the main road through your neighborhood?
The flip side argument is what do you do with those bridges?
“The alternative is to turn them into landmarks. Or demolish the bridges, and I don’t know who’s going to do that,” Bovo said. “We have an issue with traffic and we have two bridges that have been built with taxpayer money and they are just sitting there. Just sitting there! Is this what we do now? We just build stuff that will never be open?”
Read related story: Carlos Gimenez, er, Stevie Bovo wins commission chair
Which is a good point. But are these two-lane roads adjacent to mostly residential streets the best pressure valve in the area? How do we know without a traffic study?
Cid says there is an interlocal agreement with Hialeah in which the two cities plan to turn
the 154th Street bridge into an “overline park” like the 606 in Chicago, built on the abandoned Bloomingdale elevated train tracks. Couldn’t we do that with the 170th Street bridge, which is already used by pedestrians and joggers and hikers and people fishing the adjacent canal?
Bovo said the FDOT would never allow that. “You can’t have non-vehicular traffic,” he said.
But certainly there is a mechanism for the county to begin whatever process it takes for that to happen, isn’t there? All that is needed is the political will.
Perhaps that means that Scavuzzo and Cid and Pizzi will be speaking to the wrong people Wednesday at County Hall.
Maybe what they have to do is sell that overline park idea to the people who are really pulling the strings here: Lennar Homes and the Graham Companies and the other developers building west of I-75.
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Esteban Bovo to FDOT: ‘Open up NW 170th Street bridge’ added by Ladra on
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Manny Cid said, “We do things a little differently in Miami Lakes. We base our actions on fact,” Cid told Ladra. “They keep saying it’s going to help connectivity in the area, but we’re skeptical… We think it’s just going to change traffic patterns and make traffic worse.”
Let’s review. Cid attacked Bovo, accusing him of not basing his conclusion on fact. Then he turned around and, without any factual backing, said “We think…” Nice, Mr. Cid.
Mr. Cid, the facts prove you are wrong about this issue. Miami Lakes asked for a traffic study? Well, HERE IT IS!!! This traffic study was completed by professional traffic engineers, and it concludes that traffic flow will improve for all stakeholders: https://tinyurl.com/39dyxd4a.
Sounds an awful lot like those who oppose the opening of the bridges are basing their conclusions on nothing but smoke, mirrors, and conjecture. Not fact– conjecture. I challenge Mr. Cid to show any facts- not conjecture or feeling- that refute this traffic study. Furthermore, I challenge Mr. Cid to refute the fact that the bridges remaining closed present a major safety hazard to fellow Miami-Dade County residents living and working west of I-75 between NW 138th Street and Miami Gardens Drive. They are one accident away from being locked into their area.
Lastly, why doesn’t Mr. Cid actually get something done that be of benefit: a traffic study of Miami Lakes Drive from the Palmetto west to Galloway Road, and what would the result be if he actually took the time to sync the traffic lights?! Perhaps Mr. Cid could focus on fixing the problems of Miami Lakes??? Mr. Cid is playing the NIMBY card with zero fact backing him up. Typical to use an ad-hominem attack, accusing Bovo of not basing his actions on fact, when Mr. Cid is actually the one short on facts but loud on conjecture. “NIMBY Cid,” no dice, sir.
Commissioner : The addition To Hialeah to 171 st was a Fiasco When It materialized more than 60 aCRES WHERE UNDER cONTRACT tO politicians and Friends of Hialeah. Did any of that Acreage had Your Name and is That Why The Water Plan Was Build and The 4 lane hywaywas Build By >
An Over pass on 170 St will be The Cherry To the Cake ?
What they need to do is recall the commissioner
The residents of PSN and Miami Lakes do not need a roadway to go west. They need roadways open to go east to the Palmetto expressway.
Opening the bridges will only help the resident of North Hialeah. The traffic coming from the west would only make the current situation worse.
Commissioner Bovo sent this agenda item out on a Friday afternoon for a vote on a Wednesday. No procedure for the resident to speak. This was done this way for a reason.
Sad to say that Commissioner Bovo represents PSN and Miami Lakes. BUT, he does represent Hialeah and their developers very, very well. We will remember.
With Lennar building over 600 homes on 87 Ave between 154 and 183 rd at 2 cars per household 1200 extra cars in a small neighborhood with streets that do not have the capacity for expansion, already at gridlocked, with over 8 schools in less than 3 miles, a bridge to bring in more traffic does not make sense, And from a community that is still under construction with only one street in and one street out. Who planned and allowed this craziness. We don’t need a study we need Comm Bovo and FDOT to sit on 87th, 82nd 78, 77, 67 Ave, NW 170 and watch what is going on. Total gridlock. Bringing extra cars to alleviate the mess on the West will only add to the mess on the East. Those that planned the NEW community on the West of I-75 need to come up with a solution without passing it to the established OLD communities. The bridge was paid by the tax payers, the tax payers DO NOT WANT IT OPENED.
Sadly, these bridges have never been opened because Miami Lakes residents didn’t want the Hialeah folks to be connected to them. As a result, Miami Lakes has trapped THEMSELVES in their own town. I wish this weren’t true, but it is. If they open up these “bridges to nowhere” of course it will alleviate congestion. It’s common sense. Why have a bridge to nowhere?
By the way, this isn’t the first time traffic decisions have been made for racist reasons. Georgetown didn’t want the metro in their suburb because they didn’t want the undesirables to be easily connected to them. Now they are wishing they had a metro stop.
Muy triste
What’s sad is that you think the reason for keeping them closed is racist. Our council is entirely Hispanic and every one of them shares the desire to keep them closed UNLESS and UNTIL proof is shown that it will alleviate traffic. We haven’t trapped ourselves in Miami Lakes, we’ve been busy protecting our city. Hialeah has not protected itself from special interest development. That’s a big part of why Hialeah is in the mess it is in. Sorry if common sense comes across as racism to you. That is indeed muy triste.
It’s sad, but true, that Miami Lakes has always had an issue being associated with Hialeah. They didn’t even want to share their zip code with Hialeah. After years of fighting for their own, they finally got it. If someone from Hialeah runs for office in ML, some residents have said, in front of me: we don’t want hialeah here. Have you ever heard people say Miami Lakes is Hialeah by the Sea. I don’t agree with that, I went to preschool there, have family there, and love the town, but sadly, all of this is true. Racist? For the old guard, yes. For the others, I would say it is a socioeconomic class issue. Nonetheless, I agree that the County must do a traffic study. Absolutely.
Thank you for clarifying your position a bit more. I do have to say, however, in regards to the zip code and the noted efforts to distance ourselves from Hialeah that there’s nothing wrong with a community safeguarding its identity. The truth is that Hialeah has a less than stellar reputation, not by virtue of its residents but rather by virtue of its political history which is rife with corruption, electoral shenanigans, and poor urban planning. Yes, many Miami Lakers have their origins in Hialeah and they moved here after gaining affluence. But they did so not to segregate themselves from the people of Hialeah, but rather from the poor decision making that emanates from its City Hall. Miami Lakes is not perfect, but has done a better job than Hialeah in managing its affairs. Our zoning is undeniably more consistent and our architectural controls helps to better maintain high home values and a better quality of life. Most people if they are honest don’t want to live in a place where industrial zoning collides with residential areas, for example.
So in summary, Miami Lakers are simply protecting their individual identity same as Hialeah and every other city should and does do. The reason for advocating the bridges stay closed is because there is no benefit to Miami Lakes for doing so and there’s arguably little benefit for the residents of that area in Hialeah for doing so at this time. I would also point out that while I too have heard that phrase (“don’t want Hialeah in here”) that Tony Lama and Nelson Rodriguez won big last election. Both of them grew up in Hialeah. So, despite the “old guard” as you called them (who are increasingly a smaller share of the population), having ties to Hialeah is no barrier to office in Miami Lakes. Having ties to the political machine in Hialeah on the other hand can be a different matter and I think some of those concerns are absolutely valid–again, because of the city’s political history.
Lol. “Pressure valve” is the perfect analogy indeed cause it’s those of us on the East side of 75 that are about to get BURNED. Thanks, Bobo (not a misspelling).
Opening up the 170th bridge will NOT alleviate traffic, it will simply make things worse for our once quiet neighborhood.
Bovo stated NW Miami Dade was very sleepy for years, but he must of forgotten, that 1) we like it that way 2) we have had to deal with the ongoing mine blasting being conducted by White Rock for years that continue to slowly destroy our homes – I wonder how the over priced homes on the west side of I-75 we handle the blasts. Not to mention, we have over 400 homes being built on 87th and 154th street and another 84 townhomes BOVO pushed on a triangular corner right off 186 street that too have NO good in/out access.
BOVO – how are you going to help us with the blasting? Are you going to help us repair our homes?
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I have a question – why do the planners/developers/cities NOT build the streets/avenues first as seen in other states and then build the communities. They simply build… build… build… to fill their pockets with cash, but forget to build the arteries that feed these new communities.
Another idea that would make sense is to have feeder ramps from the WEST onto I-75 (NB & SB), and onto the Turnpike. No need to push additional traffic to the EAST.
We dont need any additional traffic on our already salurated “F” rated streets in Palm Springs North and West Miami Lakes!
BOVO do you not hear our cry?