This Miami neighborhood was shielded from traffic by a court fight that may end soon

A traffic reprieve for part of Miami’s Silver Bluff neighborhood may be coming to an end, with a judge on Friday ruling Miami-Dade County can clear away barricades that the city installed two years ago.

What started as a stand-off between a county public-works crew and city police in 2021 ended up in a Zoom hearing before Circuit Court Judge Charles Johnson, who urged Miami-Dade to address safety concerns but also rejected Miami’s argument it could keep the “temporary” barriers in place.

“I understand the city’s concern. Something has to be done in terms of controlling this traffic,” Johnson said. “My narrow ruling is the county has over-arching control. They get to remove the barriers. ... But something has to be done long-term, folks.”

READ MORE: Governments clash in Silver Bluff as Miami police block county from reopening streets

The judge offered no potential solutions beyond speed bumps for a neighborhood framed by Coral Way to the north and Southwest 17th Avenue to the west.

In March 2021, city crews deployed barricades along both roadways to have Southwest 23rd Street dead-end at 17th Avenue, preventing turns from Coral Way into the neighborhood.

Residents had complained the narrow streets where they lived were becoming overwhelmed by commuters dodging traffic on nearby U.S. 1 by zipping through the neighborhood.

Miami-Dade objected, saying its county commission had sole authority to close streets beyond temporary emergency measures needed to deal with a building fire or traffic accident. When a county crew went to remove the barriers, Miami police intervened and the court fight began.

It lasted for 27 months, with Miami at one point spending more than $1,000 a day to post police at the barriers and comply with county rules governing temporary street closures, according to a 2022 report in the Miami New Times.

While Miami conceded the county has exclusive authority to permanently close roads, the city argued the Silver Bluff barricades were temporary actions to deal with a safety emergency.

“The county is turning a blind eye to the necessity of these barriers,” Victoria Méndez, Miami’s top attorney, said during the Friday hearing. At another point, she stated: “They have done nothing.”

Bruce Libhaber, an assistant county attorney, said Miami was trying to distract from the legal fact that cities can’t close streets without county permission in Miami-Dade.

Allowing Miami to choose this one corner of the city to have one-way streets indefinitely, he said, would invite the 33 other municipalities to pick and choose which neighborhoods would get street closures, causing overall chaos for drivers across Miami-Dade.

“It has been 27 months and counting,” Libhaber said. “The city has provided no timetable for when, if ever, those streets would be reopened.”

The street skirmish brought political sparks, too. Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — who lost a civil suit this week over allegations that he weaponized city inspectors against political opponents — championed the closure in a 2021 press conference featuring school children.

After the ruling, Méndez suggested an appeal was possible, saying the city was considering its options. Johnson said he would sign an order allowing the barriers to be removed, whether by county or city crews. There was no word Friday on when that might happen or a timetable on the streets reopening to through traffic.

Beba Mann, a Silver Bluff resident who led the push for street barriers, said neighbors may file their own suit to keep the barriers in place to prevent another “nightmare of cars, unsafe streets.”

“We are not walking away quietly,” she said.

David Winker, a Miami lawyer who initially represented a homeowner who opposed the barriers before selling his property, said the city benefited from a lengthy legal fight over a case that it was bound to lose.

“It’s just a misuse of the court’s time,” he said. “If the city is right, we just need to close every street in the city.”