Miami Could Learn a Lot from Bordeaux!

Melissa Hege, AICP of South Florida-based Melissa Hege City Planning LLC. takes a trip to Bordeaux, France and highlights what Miami can learn from this city when it comes to embracing multimodal transportation initiatives.

Mayor Alain Juppé’s vision for the city developed after years of neglect, congestion and sprawl. Sound familiar Miami? Beginning in 1995, Mayor Juppé created a plan for a new riverside and three light rail lines in the city center and an extensive bikeway system. This UNESCO world heritage site would be cleaned, primped and transformed into the jewel of the country in just twenty short years.

In fact, Bordeaux’s Garonne River was considered an industrial wasteland with acres of storage containers and parked cars lining the river banks. Photo courtesy of Jeremie Buchholtz.

But look at it now! Transformed into a space for everyone to enjoy. A simple waterfront walkway with a plain railing system and paired with outdoor seating equals instant karma. Why should the cars be the only ones enjoying the water and the sun?

The seating area is slightly raised and adorned with a precious paving pattern to separate it from the walking path.

And then there are the trains. The tracks were laid out right in the middle of the existing streets. No need to widen the roads. Check this before and after photo courtesy of Jeremie Buchholtz.

These trains are sleek and cool and quiet and they create fantastic opportunities for those funky little bollards which I see all over french cities, but never in Miami. Here the simple metal posts separate the sidewalk from the active train tracks. And just in can you miss them, there’s a dip in road and a rather cute sewer grate before you reach the metal train tracks.

This picture gives a better view of how the bollards visually separate the tracks from the street, and, how they demarcate crosswalks to lead people to the train stop. Also a nice shot to illustrate how the paving pattern changes at the train station. A subtle design shift to alert people that they are entering an important place. It’s the train people!

And an interior shot of the station and tracks. It’s all about the paving here– stone and scored concrete aggregate.