Drivers need to navigate new patterns on Miami highways
The new incarnation of Interstate 395, which leads to and from South Beach, is still more than three years from completion. That includes I-95 portions that also serve as pathways to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami and Miami International Airport for the nearly half a million cars that traverse the corridor per day.
Completion of the project, which will feature a restructuring of I-395 and a double-decking of the State Road 836 approach from the Miami Marlins’ stadium and Jackson Memorial Hospital complex, is expected in the summer of 2026.
By this morning, new traffic patterns will be in place for the $840 million project. Lane closings for the latest stretch of roadwork began Wednesday.
Here’s what to know about the changes.
THE LONG-TERM PROJECT
The work is part of the I-395/Dolphin Expressway/I-95 Design-Build Project, which will reconstruct the I-395 corridor from the Dolphin Expressay/I-395/I-95 (Midtown) interchange to the MacArthur Causeway Bridge. The complex new roadway includes the construction of a signature bridge over Northeast Second
Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard, plus a double-deck Dolphin from west of Northwest 17th Avenue to the Midtown interchange, and the replacement of the pavement on I-95 from Northwest Eighth to Northwest 29th streets. using the outside lane should prepare to merge to the middle lane just before Northeast First Avenue,” said Oscar Gonzalez III, senior community outreach specialist for the I-395/SR 836/ I-95 Design-Build Project.
“On westbound I-395, all travel lanes will be shifted to the north (right) side of the roadway from east of Biscayne Boulevard to west of Northeast First Avenue,” he said.
Allow addition
al travel time and drive with caution, Gonzalez said.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR?
Driver alerts: The
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Department of Transportation will have message boards on eastbound I-395 before the merge point to alert drivers. Signs will also be in place
as well as merge pavement markings in advance of the merge, Gonzalez said. “On westbound I-395 where traffic will be shifted slightly to the north (right side of the roadway) there will also be electronic
message signs advising drivers of the new traffic pattern,” he added.
HOW LONG?
Transport crews want to open up new areas for construction of the fifth of an eventual six arches for the signature bridge. The merge will remain in place for about three to four months until another traffic shift. In that one, road crews will move traffic onto the new eastbound and westbound bridges to the north and south of existing I-395, Gonzalez said.