Continuing a stormwater regulations overhaul program to address wet weather challenges from rising sea levels and protect community assets, the City of Miami Beach is upgrading stormwater and drainage infrastructure in its South of Fifth Street district, also known as SoFi, on the southernmost tip of South Beach. Wade Trim is designing drainage improvements throughout the SoFi area, and repurposing 1st Street with full utility replacement and streetscaping between Alton Road and Washington Avenue.

Located at the convergence of SoFi’s two major drainage lines, 1st Street improvements include a new 60-inch collection pipe and a stormwater pump station in a nearby park that will service SoFi and other neighborhoods during wet weather events. Our preliminary design concept includes elevating 1st Street to the new minimum standard of 3.7 feet and coordinating utility relocation. Wade Trim is also exploring the possibility of turning the park land the pump station sits on into an interactive learning center to educate the public about the City’s overall stormwater management program.

The streetscaping portion of the project will give the 1st Street corridor a “Main Street” feel, separating the more commercial south side of the street from the residential north side and updating pedestrian safety and aesthetics. It will incorporate distinctive reconfigured crosswalks, uniform landscaping of mature oak trees, updated placemaking signage and street lighting, and reconfigured roadway and parking lanes. Design is expected to be complete in 2018, pending approvals by the City, South of Fifth Neighborhood Association, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board, and other stakeholders.

Wade Trim has assisted Miami Beach in implementing similar stormwater management improvements in the Palm and Hibiscus Islands neighborhood, the Espanola Way pedestrian mall, and the Sunset Harbour neighborhood.