Lawmakers push for guardrails near canals

It's a familiar sight along South Florida roads: Every few months, a car is pulled from the water after careening off the road into a nearby canal.
And with hundreds of miles of canals and waterways winding their way along roads in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, two South Florida lawmakers want to do what they can to mandate more roadside guardrails in a tight budget year, with a proposal to require the barriers along major roadways in Miami-Dade.
The proposal, which passed unanimously through the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday, would mandate roadside barriers separating canals from Miami-Dade state-run roads such as Interstate 95 and the Palmetto Expressway.
If approved, the barriers would need to be installed by 2010. There already is $20 million available in the current five-year work program for guardrails in the Florida Department of Transportation budget.
The bill hasn't yet had a hearing in the House, where Rep. Yolly Roberson, a Miami Republican, is the sponsor.
A similar bill was approved last year by the Legislature but was vetoed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush.
In 2005, 89 Florida traffic fatalities occurred after vehicles hurtled into a nearby body of water, according to state figures.
The state already requires protective barriers anyplace where the edge of a canal is 60 feet or closer to the edge of a roadway.
Earlier this year, Florida's Turnpike officials announced plans to install 280 miles of barriers along the state toll road.
But the Senate proposal won't address local roads, where canals often run just a few yards from traffic. Two people drowned in Davie canals in the past six months alone. But local officials around South Florida have resisted guardrails for financial and aesthetic reasons.
Requiring the barriers statewide would have cost more than $100 million more in state money alone, which isn't available this year, Bullard said.