Those property owners soon will get the chance to voice their opinions on the future of growth along the river as part of an urban infill and redevelopment study that the Miami River Commission could to award today to Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc., a Chesapeake, VA.-based engineering and environmental consulting firm.

Real estate and development interests are awaiting the outcome of the $155,000 study, since a recent commission survey already estimates that $400 million in commercial projects are now either planned or proposed along this mostly industrial waterway that flows into Biscayne Bay.

The proposed study dovetails into a planned five-year, $80 million dredging project to restore the main channel of the river to its original depth and to abate years of industrial environmental contamination.