Traffic patterns around Surfside condo rescue effort have changed again
CLOSURES HAVE EXPANDED ON COLLINS, HARDING AND BYRON AVENUES AS RESCUE EFFORTS AT THE COLLAPSED TOWER CONTINUE.
As rescue efforts at the collapsed Champlain Towers South continue, options for getting around Surfside and the northernmost part of Miami Beach have shrunk, whether you walk, bike or drive.
Over the weekend, hotel guests had trouble getting taxis or Ubers. Drivers trying to get north or south or to the command center area around 85th Street and Collins Avenue found traffic clenched like a fighter’s fist.
Here’s what you should know:
COLLINS AVENUE
Collins Avenue, oneway northbound, is closed from 83rd to 90th streets.
This stretch of Collins includes Surfside and
Miami Beach — Surfside’s southern edge is less than a block from the fallen apartment building at
8777 Collins Ave. — but it felt like a no-man’s land Sunday night.
Tractor trailers, police cruisers and mobile command centers lined Collins Avenue. The sprawling North Beach Oceanside Park park was shut down. The northern sections of Miami Beach’s West Lots have become staging areas for scores of police and local, national and international print, digital and broadcast media.
Temporary fences and police tape delineate where the public can go.
HARDING AVENUE
Harding Avenue, one street west of Collins and one-way southbound, is closed to cars and foot traffic from 83rd to 96th streets. This covers the commercial district used mostly by residents and hotel guests of Surfside,
Bal Harbour and Bay Harbor Islands.
BYRON AVENUE
Byron Avenue, two blocks west of Harding Avenue, is closed from 85th to 90th streets, except for residents of the area.
THE SURROUNDING STREETS
On Sunday night, police blocked pedestrians on Collins at 91st Street, in front of the Four Seasons Residences at Surfside. An officer said that only residents living on the street in one of the oceanfront high-rises or boutique buildings could pass.
One woman asked if she and two other women who joined her could go through.
“We want to pray,” she told the officer.
The officer said that they could go down to Byron Avenue, turn left and head to 88th Street where others had gathered to pray.
Some stragglers made the 18-minute walk along the dark, silent roads. Single-story houses, each with the lights out and curtains drawn, lined the road. Near where people gathered, a soft ocean breeze and gardenias scented the night.
People gathered at 88th Street and Abbott Avenue, an area adjacent to a traffic circle that police had taped off. Past the singlestory houses with drawn curtains, onlookers could see what was left of Champlain Towers South in the distance. Cars drove past the area with some drivers pausing to look out and others craning out windows to take photos and videos.
Besides an occasional car horn or the chatter of a lingering broadcast crew, silence filled the evening. It’s a quality that strikes David Kahan. The 32year-old came with his wife, Pessi Kahan, 29, to visit the site and pray. The New Jersey couple arrived on Wednesday for their annual summer trip to Surfside.
“You would expect a scene like this to be loud and chaotic,” he said. “But it’s just quiet and eerie.”