Can the City Council stop the state’s planned reconstruction of Biscayne Boulevard and Ives Dairy Road? Probably not.

Can council members try alternative traffic control measures in an attempt to ease residents’ worries about the project?

Maybe.

At a workshop meeting planned for Nov. 10, the council will consider increasing the police presence near the intersection by ticketing inattentive drivers who could cause traffic gridlock. Council members also will consider improving traffic signals at the intersection, which is one of Dade County’s most congested crossroads.

Those measures, council members said, might serve as alternatives to plans by the Florida Department of Transportation to widen the roadway.

“It may not work,” council member Jeff Perlow said. “But at least we can say we tried.”

Perlow and other council members said it is unlikely that the expansion project _ which is widely unpopular here _ can be stopped altogether.

State officials say the expansion program is critically needed.

About 100,000 vehicles move through the intersection each day. According to the Department of Transportation, traffic is now near gridlock. Once the project is completed in 2002, traffic flow will be modestly improved.

With the area’s growth increasing at a fast clip, engineers expect the current slow conditions to return within 20 years.

“I don’t see much anybody can do” to halt the project, said Jose Abreu, the transportation department’s district secretary. Abreu shares partial veto power over the project with the Metropolitan Planning Organization. That board approved and set aside money for the project in May.

“I don’t think I am going to change my mind,” Abreu said.

Construction is scheduled to begin in October 1998.

City officials say they are ready to work with the transportation department to increase landscaping around the new roadway to improve its appearance.

Last week, City Council members sat somber-faced as about two dozen residents slammed the project and asked them to seek alternatives.

“It’s an aesthetic monstrosity,” resident Ginger Grossman said. “Our property values will go down.”

“It’s a safety hazard,” resident Mildred Hassock said.

Council members expressed frustration over the project, which will expand both roads from six to eight lanes and raise portions of Ives Dairy Road over the Florida East Coast Railway.

But while some said the project would be aesthetically unpleasant, they also said it is desperately needed.

“We all dislike this overpass,” Mayor Arthur Snyder said. “[But without it) we will be the laughing stock of the greater Miami community.”

At least one resident at the meeting agreed.

“If you do nothing, the city will die of strangulation [from traffic),” George Feffer said. “It’s a hard way to go.”