Pedestrian Priority Zones: Children First
Little Havana has the highest number of pedestrian crashes in Miami-Dade County according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle’s crash data provided by the Florida Department of Transportation. Data for a five-year trend shows that between 2012 and 2017 there were 239 pedestrian crashes and 12 fatalities. A Pedestrian Priority Zone (PPZ) is a designated area that prioritizes pedestrian safety over vehicle movements and encourages safe pedestrian movement. As an extension of Little Havana on the Move, the Healthy Little Havana (HLH) PPZ project was lead by MHCP COLAB. The PPZ locations within a quarter mile of Little Havana schools were chosen based on the results of a needs assessment.
On October 2020 the City of Miami Commission approved four Little Havana Pedestrian Zones and on December 10, 2020, the four zones with seven criteria were officially adopted by ordinance. Little Havana is now the third neighborhood in Miami-Dade County to prioritize pedestrian travel over cars and in June 2021 the Florida Legislature approved the $3 million funding request for the Little Havana PPZ.