MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Having to pay $100 for parking or a $532 towing fee, running into barricades, and stopping at checkpoints to get to the beach are some of the obstacles that spring break tourists face this weekend in Miami Beach.
City officials warned that the law enforcement’s license plate reader details are going to be causing eastbound traffic delays on the MacArthur and the Julia Tuttle causeways. There is another on Fifth Street where there will also be a DUI sobriety checkpoint.
6 p.m. report:
There will be checkpoints enforcing bans before getting to the beach, and city officials also ordered packaged liquor stores in the South Beach Entertainment District to close by 8 p.m.
“Spring break rules will leave you deflated” is the motto of the city’s marketing campaign this year to keep the spring breakers’ parties under control from Thursday to Sunday and from March 20-23.
Officer Christopher Bess, a spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department, said the police officers tourists see on the street are not the only ones enforcing the rules.
Bess wants tourists to remember that there is a trained law enforcement team devoted to just watching the live feeds from a network of surveillance cameras that have been set up in South Beach.
Here are more details about the changes:
- Parking garages and surface lots south of 23 Street closed at 6 a.m., on Thursday and won’t reopen until 6 a.m., on Monday. The same will happen from March 20 to March 24. The closures include the garages at 7 Street and Collins Avenue, 12 Street and Washington Avenue, 13 Street and Collins Avenue,16 Street between Collins and Washington Avenues, 17 Street and Convention Center Drive, 18 Street and Meridian Avenue, Lincoln Lane North and Pennsylvania Avenue, and 23 Street and Park Avenue.
- The $100 flat fee for parking is in effect at the Sunset Harbour Garage on 19th Street and Bay Road and the 42 Street garage between Royal Palm and Sheridan Avenues.
- Sidewalk seating on Ocean Drive will be closed during both weekends as well.
- There will be a DUI sobriety checkpoint along the 400 block of Fifth Street on both weekends.
- Tourists will not be allowed to rent golf carts, low-speed vehicles, autocycles, motorized scooters, mopeds, motorcycles powered by motors of 50 cubic centimeters or less, or motorized bicycles.
- Ocean Drive will only be accessible to vehicles from the most northern available street with a sole exit at 5 Street. Barricades will line the west side of Ocean Drive.
- Beach entrances on Ocean Drive will be limited to 5, 10, and 12 streets and will close at 6 p.m. Coolers, inflatable devices, tents, and tables are not allowed. Amplified music without a city-issued permit will be restricted. Alcohol and smoking are always prohibited on city beaches.
For more information about the city’s temporary rules and to view a traffic flow map, visit this page.