Dr. Joan Shen joined the City of Doral as Public Works Director in January 2016 and since then has been working to develop alternative solutions to the main issue residents and businesses in Doral complain about: traffic, roadways and public transportation. As a resident in the area for twelve years, Dr. Shen has experienced first hand the effects that population growth and city expansion have generated on the traffic in the city. Her previous experience in Public Works with the Miami-Dade County and before that with the Florida Department of Transportation provided her with the right tools to tackle the task at hand. Dr. Shen Dr. Joan Shen “I have a lot of experience dealing with traffic problems. I got my masters and PhD at FIU, specialized on civil engineering and transportation” explained Shen, adding that her work experience in public entities allow her to propose in the city proved solutions to provide improvements. “With more developments and businesses coming to the city, the traffic has grown, but there is a traffic growth in the entire County. There have been changes in the 826 and 836 highways. Traffic has definitely increased and there is the need for improvement in the entire County.” Although her goal is to offer immediate solutions to alleviate traffic concerns, some implementations are planned in the long term because they involve coordinated investments and approvals between the County and the City while others are already in the process to enter operation. The updating of the Transportation Master Plan, as framework to continue implementing solutions to the traffic problem is in progress. Discussed in an open workshop with the public, it includes an array of alternatives to be implemented over time for the benefit of Doral residents. Short term traffic solutions The main project to improve traffic in the short term is the installation of traffic signal monitoring cameras to improve the steady flow of traffic along main corridors. Dr. Shen explained that the idea behind the installation of monitoring cameras along Doral Boulevard is to expedite the flow of traffic by improving signal timing at the intersections with 107th and 87th avenues which are the busiest, by monitoring vehicle queueing conditions to control how long the signals last. This project is being implemented with the support of the County, as they are the ones who control the operation of all traffic lights. The plan for the future is that all major corridors in the entire city (97th avenue, 25th, 58th and 74th street) will be monitored as well. It is important to emphasize that these cameras being installed are not for generating traffic tickets or to control infractions, they are connected to the County’s signal timing system. “We already purchased the street cameras, we are going to give to them to the County to install and the County is on the process of creating an Interlocal agreement; they will install the cameras for free and provide us with access to the traffic signal system.” With that access, the City will monitor the status of traffic volume at each traffic light, and then inform the County when traffic volume increases over the capacity of the corridor. At the County, they calibrate the timing along all intersections in the corridor, creating a steady flow of transit along the street or avenue. Long term traffic solutions The first long-term project is the review of the Transportation Master Plan, which will include a comprehensive strategy to improve the traffic in the area, and will receive the input from residents in a series of workshops. The second long-term project is the interconnection of several main streets and avenues to provide additional alternatives for transit in rush hours. Opening these new streets or avenues will ease the traffic and complete the current grid. The first corridor to open was 97th avenue between 66th and 74th streets at the beginning of the year, and the next one, the portion of 109th avenue between 41st and 58th streets, will break ground in May. The reversible lines project, where the idea is to open certain corridors in only one way at rush hours, is still under feasibility study. It would take more than a year to implement it because, as Dr. Shen explained “we have to wait until the County finalizes the study, makes a final decision, recommends the solution to Doral, we inform the businesses that are going to bid, etc. The Council has to support the idea too, before we hire a consultant for the design, the procurement process. We have not discussed that. It is just an idea that we don’t know if it is feasible or not.” The recommendation on this project from the County is due by the month of June. Doral Traffic solutions also depend on the drivers All plans and projects to ease traffic that the City might implement will be to no avail if Doral residents and visitors do not play their part on respecting the law on the streets. Dr. Shen’s commitment as Public Works Director is to “work together with all agencies and our residents to continue to improve traffic.” Doral Residents’ commitment should be, on the other hand, to contribute with authorities and with the City by getting educated, following traffic rules, respecting other drivers on the street and avoiding blocking intersections or making illegal turns. Those are the attitudes and conducts that will help improve their daily commuting inside and out the City of Doral.