Traffic alert: What to expect on roads while Vice President Kamala Harris visits Miami

Howard Cohen
·2 min read
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Vice President Kamala Harris is in Miami Friday to discuss the White House’s climate-change agenda, a week after a “1-in-1,000-year” deluge dropped nearly 26 inches of rain on Fort Lauderdale and a gas crisis in South Florida.

Harris will visit the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric & Earth Science on Virginia Key on the Rickenbacker Causeway.

Drivers should expect delays as security teams whisk the VP from Miami International Airport to her few stops, which also includes the sprawling Telemundo Center in Doral.

Here’s what to know:

In Doral

File photo from July 2021 of a winding staircase in the second floor newsroom inside the new Telemundo Center, a $250 million HQ building.
File photo from July 2021 of a winding staircase in the second floor newsroom inside the new Telemundo Center, a $250 million HQ building.

Arrival: Vice President Harris is scheduled to arrive at Miami International Airport at 12:35 p.m. Friday.

Traffic impact: Expect delays during the early afternoon and late afternoon hours on State Road 112, the Airport Expressway; State Road 836, the Dolphins Expressway; State Road 826, the Palmetto Expressway; and Interstate 95 because Harris will be on a round trip ride for her two events in Doral and the Key Biscayne area.

Appearance: At 2 p.m., Harris sits for a Telemundo TV interview.

Traffic impact: The Telemundo Center is a 476,000-square-feet, three-story media compound at 2350 NW 117th Pl. in Doral. Traffic around Northwest 25th Street in the Beacon Lakes Industrial Park neighborhood in West Miami-Dade could be busy.

After the interview, her team takes her to UM’s Rosentiel campus on Virginia Key.

Along Rickenbacker Causeway

Diego Lirman, an associate professor at the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, holds a staghorn coral at the Rescue a Reef lab at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science.
Diego Lirman, an associate professor at the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, holds a staghorn coral at the Rescue a Reef lab at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science.

Appearances:

▪ At 3:50 p.m. Harris tours the Lirman Coral Lab and the University of Miami’s Hurricane Simulator in the Marine Technology and Life Sciences Seawater Research Building at the Rosentiel campus at 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway.

Traffic impact: The Rickenbacker Causeway. Jason Younes, deputy chief of police for Key Biscayne, told the Key Biscayne Independent there will be traffic delays because of security. “Avoid the [Rickenbacker] Causeway in the afternoon,” he told the paper.

▪ Remarks: At 5:10 p.m. the Vice President delivers remarks at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Coastal Resilience Funding Announcement Event at UM’s Rosenstiel “to uplift the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to combat the climate crisis and build community resilience against extreme weather,” according to the White House.

Departure: After her remarks at UM, Harris is scheduled to be back at Miami International Airport at 6:45 p.m. to head back to Joint Base Andrews. This could tie up rush hour traffic on streets that feed into MIA.

Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaks with Gloria Estefan during the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference at the New World Center on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla.
Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaks with Gloria Estefan during the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference at the New World Center on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla.

Background: In March, Harris spoke at the second annual Aspen Ideas: Climate conference in Miami Beach with singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan about the Biden administration’s investments into climate action.