Skyway proposal
- It is proposed to replace an 11 mile road build in 1928 with a skyway to address the issue of the Everglades restoration
- The project is to be carried out on Tamiami Trail (US high way 41) that cuts through Shark River Slough. This is one of Everglades’ deepest and regarded as the most important passageway
- The restoration of Everglades is expected to be achieved through the returning historic sheet water flow through the parched Everglades National Park into Florida bay
- The project is estimated to cost $300 million dollars
- The proposal rejects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers alternative of rebuilding the 11mile trail with a bridge that is one mile and an addition of eight miles of dirt berm then another bridge that will be two mile with a total cost of $128 million (Miami Herald)
- It is argued that the Army Corp’s project does not do enough to restore Everglades water flow which is viewed by scientist to be very important in improving South Florida’s aquifer and its ecosystem that is very fragile
- Research is being done to find new potential funding which will supplement federal money
- There should be political will for the project to succeed
- The Army Corps of Engineers project crusaders argue that their project has already consumed a lot of money in terms of design, engineering studies and planning and after all they see no chances of the skyway project being funded
City of Miami
- City of Miami Beach
- City of Miami Gardens
- City of Coral Gables
- City of North Miami
- Town of Miami Lakes
- Miami-Dade County
- Monroe County
- 1000 Friends of Florida
- Audubon of Florida
- Biscayne Gardens Civic Association
- Builders Association of South Florida
- Chamber South
- Clean Water Action
- Council of Garden Club Presidents of Dade County
- Dade Heritage Trust
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Izaak Walton League
- Everglades Coalition
- Everglades Foundation
- Everglades Law Center
- Everglades Trust
- Florida Biodiversity Project
- Florida Federation of Garden Clubs
- Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association
- Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council
- Friends of the Everglades
- Miami-Dade Citizens Transportation Advisory Council
- Miami-Dade Green Party
Social and monetary cost of the project
- The project is estimated to cost $300 million (Miami Herald)
- If the alternative of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project is abandoned for this project there will be losses incurred. These loses should be accounted as part of the cost of the skyway project
- If the project will see many people especially men moving away from their home to the site to work on the project. This will bring about social disharmony at their homes which can be counted as a social cost
- The men being away from their spouses may resort to sexual immorality as an alternative
- The project brings together experts who may be from different religious backgrounds, which may cause religious disharmony at the project site.
- There are people who are for the other alternatives instead of the skyway project. This will likely cause differences between people who are for the skyway project and those against it
- Projects of this magnitude and nature are always associated with accidents which make people lose their lives or become permanently impaired. This has both social and monetary implication for the fam
This project will see many employees leaving their jobs to join the companies that will have won the contract in the project. This will affect these companies negatively.
- The project will bring about the polluting of the environment because of the petroleum products that will be used by the vehicles involved in the transportation of goods and also the machines used in the excavation works
- Vehicles that will be involved in the transportation works are likely to bring about traffic jams on the road and also might be involved in accidents
- There is a lot of material like sand and concrete which will be needed for this project. This will mean a lot of quarrying activities which could be detrimental to the environment at the quarrying site
- There is likelihood of accidents at the quarries leading to permanent impairment or death
- The structure will be raised from the ground and such places are likely to be used by people to commit suicide. The workers are likely to be affected health wise because of working in marshy areas which might be having disease causing organism
Benefits of the skyway project
- Will be important to wildlife as it will reduce fragmentation and also prevent cases of animals being knocked down on the road. This is because the structure will be raised from the ground with free space below to allow for free movement of wildlife
- The project will boost tourism as it will ensure that wildlife will flourish since the skyway will make the place accessible apart from it being a tourist attraction in itself.
- This project will create market for construction materials like steel, that will be used as reinforcement and guard rails, fasteners, cement, sand and concrete
- Will create jobs for professionals like engineers, accountants, architects and quantity surveyors
- There will be other non professional workers who will be needed for the projects for the manual jobs in addition to the technical workers like electricians and masons who will be in great demand
- These projects will bring about increased quarrying and sand harvesting activities which will increase jobs in these mining industries.
If the people working on this project interact positively, there will be cultural integration which could be beneficial to the individuals and to the whole nation.
- The project will have many professional gain in high level experience because of being part of such a big project
- The project will give market to food vendors who will be selling food stuffs at the project site and other areas that will be affected by the project like the mining sites
- The project is likely to bring about positive change in life of youth who could be involved in negative activities due to idleness
- It is approximated that after completion of construction of skyway there will be about 6000 created and $600 million dollars new revenue ( Miami Herald Editorial).
References
“Everglades Skyway Coalition.” Miami Herald, 2005
Florentine Phillips L. “Build skyway to restore free flow of fresh water.” Miami Today, 2006
Dan Dolan. “Transportation agency endorses skyway over 11-mile stretch of Tamiami Trail.” Miami Herald, 2007