On April 7, 2022, Friends of the Everglades joined an amicus brief in support of an appeal by Tropical Audubon Society to overturn the Florida Cabinet’s approval of Miami-Dade County’s proposed SR-836 extension.
If built, the tollway extension would breach the county’s Urban Development Boundary (UDB) and intrude into a 13-mile stretch of Everglades Wetlands, formally known as the Bird Drive Basin.
In 2020, we celebrated an administrative judge’s ruling against the proposed extension highway, which cited threats to wetlands and Everglades restoration and exposed the claimed transportation benefits of the tollway as being unsupported by the evidence. The ruling was a win for Miami-Dade County residents, Everglades restoration, Florida’s drinking water supply, and crucial habitat for birds and other wildlife.
Unfortunately at the June 2021 meeting of the Florida Cabinet, Cabinet members voted 3-1 to reject the administrative law judge’s recommended order against the tollway expansion.
Due to the risks posed to America’s Everglades, environmentally-sensitive lands, farmland, and wildlife habitat, and access to clean drinking water, we strongly support calls for this decision to be overturned. Use the button below to read the filed amicus brief in full.
