Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay reaches out to Miami-Dade officials to address Card Sound Road safety

On Thursday, Sheriff Rick Ramsay sent Miami-Dade County officials a letter asking for a traffic study of Card Sound Road and offered his help in mitigating the serious and fatal crashes that have long plagued the road.

“Even though many of these horrific crashes occur on the Miami-Dade County side of Card Sound Road, they tie up both county’s resources and often shut down a much needed road system,” Sheriff Ramsay said. “I want to be a good partner with our neighbors to the north and that means reaching out and finding ways to work together to curb these serious accidents.”

Monroe County has started improving its side Card Sound Road by widening shoulders, repaving and stepping up traffic enforcement.

Sheriff Ramsay gathered the following data regarding crashes on the Miami-Dade County side of Card Sound Road for the past two and half years:

2017: 24 crashes, two of which were fatal;

2018: 27 crashes, one of which was fatal;

2019: 11 so far, two of which were fatal (one was medical related).

Sheriff Ramsay hopes that a traffic study will help both counties better understand and resolve these traffic concerns.

The effort is part Sheriff Ramsay’s larger overall goal to make Monroe County a safe community for motorists.

  • Sheriff Ramsay recently organized a meeting between Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez, Florida Department of Transportation District Six Secretary James Wolfe, Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward, State Rep. Holly Raschein’s District Director Sarah Craven and Islamorada Mayor Deb Gillis as well as representatives from Florida Fish and Wildlife, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the National Park Service and the Florida Highway Patrol to address health and safety issues along Indian Key Fill in Islamorada.

Also on Thursday, FDOT announced it was dropping the speed limit from 50 mph to 45 mph at Sheriff Ramsay’s request and installing audible striping down the center of U.S. 1 from Mile Marker 77 to Mile Marker 80 as well as conducting a traffic study in the same area.

  • Sheriff Ramsay has ordered the Sheriff’s Office Aviation Division to conduct traffic enforcement along U.S. 1 — specifically those choke points where traffic typically backs up such as in Islamorada — from the air during holidays and other times when traffic is the heaviest.

“Reaching out to our partners in Miami-Dade County regarding Card Sound Road is an important part of my commitment to the residents and visitors of the Florida Keys regarding an issue that we all take very seriously — highway safety,” said Sheriff Ramsay said. “I know with the help our of partners to the north we can improve safety on Card Sound Road.”

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