Brickell Traffic and Avoiding the Dreaded Bridge

The Brickell Avenue Bridge only gets in your way when you drive north on Brickell Avenue toward Downtown. From most Brickell towers you rarely need it: I-95 crosses the Miami River on a fixed bridge with no draw, and SW 7th Street runs one way west to its ramps, north and south.

I lived at Icon Brickell, the tower right next to the bridge, so this comes from living with it, not from a map. I am also a buyer at 619 Brickell myself. Below are the bridge rules, the traffic picture, and a map of the bridge-free routes from seven Brickell towers: 619 Brickell by Nobu, 888 Brickell by Dolce & Gabbana, the Residences at Mandarin Oriental, 1428 Brickell, Mercedes-Benz Places, Faena Residences and St. Regis.

How often does the Brickell Avenue Bridge open?

On weekdays it stays down from 7:35 to 8:59 AM, 12:05 to 12:59 PM and 4:35 to 5:59 PM. Between 7 AM and 7 PM outside those windows it opens only on the hour and the half hour, and evenings and weekends it opens on request. Tugs, government vessels and emergencies can open it at any time.

Those are the federal rules for the Miami River drawbridges (33 CFR 117.305), and FDOT posts the same closed windows on its signs. The exemption for tugs and government vessels is why drivers still see openings inside the rush-hour windows; CBS Miami covered it in May 2026, along with IsBridgeUP.com, a site that sends real-time alerts when the bridge is open.

How often it actually goes up: the newest full count published, from FDOT bridge tender records in a 2017 Miami-Dade TPO study, is 5,928 openings from July 2015 to June 2016, about 16 a day. A 2014 to 2015 count by a device on the bridge, reported by Miami Today, came to about 10 or 11 per weekday. Each opening stops traffic for roughly two and a half to four minutes, based on 2022 observations for the Miami River Commission, and longer when people walk around the gates.

How bad is Brickell traffic, really?

About 33,500 vehicles a day cross the Brickell Avenue Bridge, by FDOT's 2025 count, and that number has barely moved in a decade even as Brickell's population nearly doubled. I-95 at the river carries about 203,500 a day. Miami-wide, TomTom puts the average congestion level at 46.8% in 2025.

• The bridge: 33,500 vehicles a day in 2025 on Brickell Avenue across the river, from FDOT's continuous counter. The same segment counted 30,500 to 37,000 every year from 2021 through 2024, and the 2017 TPO study put it at 34,000 to 37,000 for years before that. (FDOT annual average daily traffic)
• I-95 at the river: about 203,500 vehicles a day in 2025, six times the bridge, on a crossing that never opens.
• Miami overall: on TomTom's 2025 Traffic Index, a 10 km drive in Miami takes 17 minutes 45 seconds on average and 23 minutes 43 seconds in the evening rush, and drivers lose about 72 hours a year to rush-hour traffic.
• The neighborhood: the Brickell Financial District's population grew 89% from 2012 to 2023, the largest gain of any downtown district, and 28% of the people who work there walk to work (Miami DDA, April 2025). Brickell has 19,021 condo units with 3,838 more under construction, 48% of all the condos in Greater Downtown (Miami DDA, November 2025).

Put those together and you get the real Brickell story: the neighborhood nearly doubled and bridge traffic stayed flat, because more of the trips in Brickell happen on foot and on Metromover, and the drivers who know the area use I-95. The six Brickell Loop Metromover stations averaged about 7,000 weekday boardings in July 2026 (Miami-Dade ridership report, a month the county notes was lifted by the World Cup).

How do you get around the bridge from Brickell?

Take SW 7th Street west to I-95. SW 7th runs one way west from Brickell; turn left at SW 3rd Avenue for I-95 North or at SW 4th Avenue for I-95 South. I-95 crosses the Miami River on a fixed bridge, so it never opens. Coming home, take I-95 South to exit 1B and follow SW 8th Street east to Brickell Avenue.

The routes below were checked against OpenStreetMap road data (one-way streets, ramps and every movable bridge in the area) with the OSRM routing engine, in both directions of travel, and cross-checked in Google Maps driving directions. Closures and construction can change them, and Waze and Google Maps will reroute you live.

619 Brickell 888 Brickell Mandarin Oriental 1428 Brickell Mercedes-Benz Places Faena St. Regis

To I-95, no drawbridgeFaena into Brickell by I-95, no drawbridgeThe drawbridge routeRed labels: drawbridges

Which Brickell towers deal with the bridge, and how?

For towers south of the river, the bridge only matters on trips north into Downtown, and I-95 covers those. Faena is the exception: it sits on the north bank, so for its owners the drawbridges are what stand between them and Brickell. Brickell Key's own bridge is fixed.

619 Brickell by Nobu

619 Brickell Avenue, on the bay behind the First Presbyterian Church

The site's only street frontage is Brickell Avenue, and we expect a second exit on the north side of the church, so heading west you go straight across Brickell onto SE 6th Street without turning north toward the bridge. The developer is also working on adding another traffic light to make it easier to exit. From SE 6th, take South Miami Avenue one block south to SW 7th Street and follow it to the ramps. Metromover's Fifth Street station is about a quarter mile away.

Show on the map

888 Brickell by Dolce & Gabbana

888 Brickell Avenue

West on SE 10th Street, north on South Miami Avenue, then left on SW 7th Street to the ramps. One thing to watch: if you stay on South Miami Avenue past SW 7th, you are headed for the Miami Avenue drawbridge, which is exactly what a navigation app will often pick as the shortest way north. Metromover's Tenth Street Promenade station is about 200 yards away.

888 Brickell by Dolce & Gabbana

Show on the map

The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami

750 Claughton Island Drive, at the southern tip of Brickell Key

Brickell Key has one bridge in and out, and it is a fixed bridge, so the island itself never closes for boats. Off the island, Brickell Key Drive becomes SE 8th Street; turn north on Brickell Avenue for one block and left on SE 7th Street, which becomes SW 7th and runs to the ramps. The trip that does involve the drawbridge is the straight shot north on Brickell Avenue to Downtown. Brickell City Centre's Metromover station is a little over half a mile on foot.

The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami

Show on the map

The Residences at 1428 Brickell

1428 Brickell Avenue

West on SE 14th Street, north on South Miami Avenue, left on SW 7th Street to the ramps. As with 888, the trap is staying on South Miami Avenue all the way to the river. The Financial District Metromover station is about a block away, the closest of any building on this list.

The Residences at 1428 Brickell

Show on the map

Mercedes-Benz Places

191 SW 12th Street, west of the Metrorail line

The shortest bridge-free run of the group: north on SW 2nd Avenue, left on SW 7th Street, and the ramps are a block or two away. Keep going north on SW 2nd Avenue instead and you reach the SW 2nd Avenue drawbridge. Metromover's Brickell station, where Metrorail also stops, is under a quarter mile away.

Mercedes-Benz Places

Show on the map

Faena Residences Miami

24 SW 4th Street, on the north bank of the Miami River

Faena flips the question. It sits on the Downtown side of the river, so Downtown, Kaseya Center and I-95 North (via SE 2nd Street) involve no river crossing at all. The drawbridges are what stand between Faena and Brickell: the short way in crosses the Miami Avenue bridge. The bridge-free way is I-95 South over the fixed bridge to exit 1B and SW 8th Street, or Metromover from the Riverwalk station, about a quarter mile away, which crosses the river on its own fixed guideway.

Faena Residences Miami

Show on the map

St. Regis Residences

1809 Brickell Avenue, at the south end of Brickell

North on Brickell Avenue to SE 15th Road, west to SW 2nd Avenue, north to SW 7th Street and the ramps. At this end of Brickell the bridge is the farthest away of any building here, and the Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne is minutes south with no drawbridge. The Financial District Metromover station is about 0.6 mile on foot.

St. Regis Residences

Show on the map

Where can you go from Brickell without the drawbridge?

Almost everywhere you drive regularly. The airport, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne and Fort Lauderdale are all reachable from Brickell without the Brickell Avenue drawbridge. The one trip that does use it is straight up Brickell Avenue into Downtown and Biscayne Boulevard.

The MacArthur Causeway's two bay bridges are fixed spans built in the 1990s, while the Venetian Causeway has drawbridges of its own. The Rickenbacker's old drawbridge was removed when its high-level bridge was built.

What should you do when the bridge is up?

Don't wait in the line. If you are heading north and the bridge is up, turn west to SW 7th Street and take I-95 across the river. Before you leave, check IsBridgeUP.com or Waze, and plan trips north around the closed rush-hour windows, when the bridge only opens for exempt vessels.

• Weekday closed windows: 7:35 to 8:59 AM, 12:05 to 12:59 PM, 4:35 to 5:59 PM (except federal holidays).
• Weekdays 7 AM to 7 PM otherwise: openings only on the hour and the half hour.
• The South Miami Avenue, SW 2nd Avenue and SW 1st Street bridges are drawbridges too, so heading west a few blocks to cross is not a way around an open Brickell Avenue bridge. I-95 is.

What is Miami doing about Brickell traffic?

Three things are moving. The county is replacing about 3,000 traffic signal controllers, with Brickell Avenue's signals planned for August 2028. The Miami River Commission reopened its push on bridge operations in June 2026. And a tunnel under the river from Brickell Avenue to Biscayne Boulevard has been studied, though it is not funded.

• Smarter signals. Miami-Dade's Advanced Traffic Management System replaces about 3,000 controllers with new ones built to support adaptive signal timing, and adds detection at up to 600 intersections over seven years, with the whole program targeted to finish within ten years. Installation runs August 2026 through August 2029, simpler intersections first. On the county's tracker (updated October 22, 2026), the Brickell Avenue signals at SE 5th, SE 7th and SE 8th Streets are planned for August 2028. In March 2026, City of Miami commissioners asked staff to work with the county on syncing the city's signals.
• Bridge operations. In June 2026 a Miami River Commission subcommittee re-adopted its Brickell Bridge action items: strict enforcement of the closed windows, pedestrian gates and staff, restoring the vehicle lanes FDOT removed from the bridge, signals timed to openings, warning signs, an opening-alert app, and support for a tunnel (commission minutes). In the 2022 observations, gates came down for about 2 minutes 30 seconds per opening with police controlling pedestrians, against about 3 minutes 30 seconds without.
• A tunnel, someday. The 2017 TPO study priced a bored tunnel from Brickell Avenue to Biscayne Boulevard at $1.14 billion and projected it would take about half the 2040 traffic off the bridge. It sits in the long-range plan unfunded, and the TPO's July 2025 Downtown Miami Transportation Master Plan recommends continuing to explore it. Treat it as a concept, not a plan with a date.
• The I-395 Signature Bridge. FDOT's I-395, SR 836 and I-95 rebuild, the project with the arches over Downtown, is estimated to finish in December 2029 (FDOT project page). It matters to Brickell because I-95 to I-395 is the bridge-free way to Miami Beach.
• Getting around without a car. Beyond Metromover, the city's free trolley runs a Brickell route, the Miami DDA added electric Freebee vehicles linking Brickell, the Central Business District and the Arts & Entertainment District in March 2026, and the county's Metromover track overhaul is under way, with the Brickell Loop running normally as of August 2026.

Can you get around Brickell without a car?

Yes, for most of what is in Brickell and Downtown. Metromover is free, and it crosses the Miami River on its own elevated guideway with no drawbridge. It reaches Downtown, Kaseya Center and Brightline at MiamiCentral, and it runs from 5:30 AM to 10 PM.

Walking distances are from each building's street address by the shortest walking route, so they are approximate. Note that the sidewalks on the Brickell Avenue and Miami Avenue bridges lift with the bridge, so on foot, as in a car, Metromover is the crossing that never closes.

Frequently asked questions