8th Street pedestrian bridge construction begins next month

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will begin construction next month of an 8^th Street pedestrian bridge at Southwest 109th Ave. The span will link FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus with a residential area directly to the north, in the City of Sweetwater. Work will commence on October 8 and is expected to take two years to complete.

Members of the university community are welcome to attend a public FDOT information meeting at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Jorge Mas Canosa Youth Center, 250 SW 114 Avenue, or virtually, to learn about the project and ask questions.

FDOT managed the design and will manage the construction of the new bridge. Funding for the $38 million bridge comes from the federal government, the state and a federal transportation grant assigned by FIU to FDOT.

The project responds to the need for safer passage between the university and an area in which an increasing number of students live. Accidents, some resulting in pedestrian deaths, have occurred on the heavily traveled Eighth Street, also known as Calle Ocho and Tamiami Trail and federally designated as US 41.

The timing of the project coincides with rapid growth of student residences in the area, both on and off campus. Today more than 5,000 students live in Sweetwater, across from FIU’s main campus, and more residential buildings are planned.

The university will cooperate with FDOT by allowing traffic to be rerouted onto campus to accommodate temporary street closures during overnight construction, which will take place in phases. FDOT has said the campus will be affected during the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday during weeks it will specify. FDOT will share all information in advance of closures through a variety of means, among them memos to FIU that will be forwarded to the university community, social media and posting on a dedicated FDOT web site.

For the benefit of those who live and drive in the area, detours will be established with clear signage, and access to adjacent properties will be maintained. The latter include single-family homes as well as student residential towers. Entrances to FIU on Southwest 8^th Street will remain open during the day to cars, but changes to at least one crosswalk will affect pedestrian access.

“At FDOT, we are very focused on the completion of this project and making sure that we are maintaining a safe work environment for everyone,” said Jeff Baquedano on behalf of the FDOT. “Safety is our number one priority.”

The bridge is expected to open in the fall of 2026.

The new bridge will replace a previous bridge on the site that collapsed during its construction in March of 2018. The resulting tragedy took six lives, including that of FIU student Alexa Duran, and injured several others.

The university community continues to mourn the deaths and has since established a memorial space on campus in remembrance of those lost.