Alton Road had 464 crashes in five years; FDOT plans repaving, curve warnings and fewer parking spots

Alton Road between 43rd Street and Allison Road had 464 crashes from 2020 through 2024, four of them fatal, according to a state safety study summarized in a city memo for the Nov. 9 meeting of the Miami Beach commission’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee. All four deaths happened at night, and two were at the curve where northbound Alton Road turns onto 63rd Street.

The stretch is State Road 907, owned by the Florida Department of Transportation. The memo says FDOT is scheduled to start an interim resurfacing project on it this month, meant to patch poor pavement until a full reconstruction is funded. The memo was first written for a Sept. 17 committee meeting; FDOT’s lane closure page listed no Alton Road work in Miami Beach as of Thursday.

What changes for drivers and neighbors

Besides new asphalt, rebuilt sidewalks, curb ramps and crosswalks, the state study recommends short-term fixes that the memo says are expected to come with the repaving:

• “30 MPH” markings and optical speed bars painted on the approaches to the curves.
• Lighted, sequential curve warning signs in place of the current chevrons, and a speed feedback sign facing southbound traffic just south of 44th Street.
• Removal of on-street parking spaces next to driveways, on the curves and on the approaches to them, where they don’t meet FDOT design standards, with the remaining spaces marked.
• Tree trimming around streetlights and repairs to broken lights north of North Bay Road and at Allison Road.

Longer term, FDOT would add LED street lighting and widen the road for 8-foot parking lanes, again removing spaces that don’t meet its standards. The state ruled out realigning the road for lack of right-of-way, and it doesn’t allow speed tables or raised crosswalks on state roads, the memo says.

There were 105 crashes on the stretch in 2025, 24 with injuries and none fatal, according to the memo.

Trucks

Commissioner Tanya K. Bhatt asked for the discussion in June over heavy traffic, trucks and speeding. The memo says Florida cities can’t ban trucks from a state road on their own. FDOT can restrict them only in narrow cases, such as a road’s geometry or weight limits, and the city could ask the state to study a restriction if the committee and the commission want it.

The committee meets Monday, Nov. 9, at 9 a.m. at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive. Its recommendations go to the City Commission.