Miami Dade Transit 2016 Study Guide
When it comes to the future of public transit in Miami-Dade, one thing we're not suffering for is ideas. Oh, people have lots of ideas. Of course, ideas require studies, and those require agreements among various local governments and agencies. Then there's the process of figuring out which ideas are best to pursue. Finally, in perhaps the most important step, we have to figure out how to pay for those ideas.
So in the end, very few of these bright ideas become reality — especially when it comes to building a completely new transit system or extending existing ones. Tri-Rail's Coastal Link Tri-Rail is great at linking South Florida's three counties — if you need to travel between the western suburbs of those counties. A second line, that would connect the downtowns of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach by running a track on the existing Florida East Coast Railway lines was announced in 2011.
The original goal was to open by 2015. That, of course, has come and gone, but the plan is still very much alive. Tri-Rail's governing agency, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, has plans to extend a (it would split off from the Hialeah station). The current earliest target date for the whole shebang to be operational is 2020.
Station locations are expected to be announced sometime this spring. Baylink, AKA 'The Beach Corridor Transit Connection Project' Plans to better connect Miami and Miami Beach have been kicked around for decades, but the idea for Baylink, a streetcar and light-rail system, was proposed in 2002. It was really popular.
It had momentum. The idea was revived in 2013, and this time around, it's the Miami Beach city government.
Environmental studies must be completed. Funding must be found. Private partners must be brought aboard.
But it seems like for the first time since 2002, there's momentum to get this project done. There's a hitch, though: The plan has been broken up into three separate plans. Both Miami and Miami Beach will pursue exploring street/rail systems within their own city limits, and then the third phase would involve linking them with a light-rail over Biscayne Bay. It's not actually guaranteed yet if these systems will link seamlessly or if passengers will have to transfer to another system.
By the way, Miami was pursuing its own street-car system, but those plans were put on hold in 2014 when talk of Baylink returned. Aerial Cable Transit, AKA Gondolas The Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in December 2014 commissioned a feasibility study of 'aerial cable transit' (basically, a gondola system like those you see at ski resorts) to run along the east-west transportation corridor of the city. Denver-based Eco-Transit Technologies is conducting the study, and the plan would have stops at Florida International University, Marlins Park, Miami International Airport, the Health District, downtown Miami, PortMiami, and Miami Beach.
The system would cross Biscayne Bay, the Miami River, and the Intracoastal Waterway. According to the MPO, the study is '50 percent' complete. CSX East-West Rail CSX Railways owns a railway that runs east-west, roughly parallel to the Dolphin Expressway.
Some county leaders, including Commissioner Steve Bovo, would very much like to use that railway to extend a commuter rail system into West Miami-Dade. Various ideas include extending Tri-Rail or Metrorail along the line. Problem is, CSX is now playing hardball.
Rail Link to American Dream Megamall You know how there are plans to build the world's largest mall in northeast Miami? Yeah, well, county leaders have decided it would be good to get ahead of ideas of how to service the massive project with mass transit. An idea to extend existing rail tracks (owned by Florida East Coast Railway). This is still very much in the 'ongoing discussion without firm plans' file.
A study is underway to gauge the feasibility and effect of three main routes:. One along NW 27th Avenue from the Miami Intermodal Center near the airport that runs clear up to the Broward line. Another along Flagler Street that would connect the area around FIU to downtown. The third would run along Kendall Drive from Dadeland to SW 167th Avenue. More Express Buses and Expanded Bus Service The regular ol' Metrobus system won't be ignored either. Incremental improvements are being made all the time. The biggest development underway is the State Road 836 Express Bus.
Powerpoint 2013/2016 Study Guide
The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) is widening 836 to accommodate the express bus. The first of three routes is expected to begin service in 2017. Water Taxis The idea of public ferries shuttling people between the mainland and Key Biscayne or Miami Beach or up and down the Miami River has been kicked around for years but has never developed into much of a plan.
The idea is still out there, though. Maybe it will happen someday.
The Miami-Dade County Commission District 5 seat has not been open for 20 years. Former Commissioner Bruno Barreiro earlier this year to run for Congress, causing the need for a special election. In the, newcomer Eileen Higgins, a progressive Democrat, took 35 percent of the vote, and Barreiro’s wife, Zoraida Barreiro, came in second with a close 33 percent.
Higgins says it was a surprise to her that a progressive message and candidate resonated more with people of Miami-Dade. The is June 19 and Higgins joined Sundial to talk about transportation, sea-level rise and affordable housing.
Higgins says she hopes to improve quality of life in District 5, a predominantly Latino area. WLRN has also invited Zoraida Barreiro for a separate conversation to be held ahead of the special election. Listen to the full interview with Eileen Higgins, candidate for the District 5 Miami-Dade county commissioner seat. WLRN: You have talked to the media - a lot of Spanish media. This is a very Hispanic district. Higgins: Yes, over 60 percent Hispanic. The majority of the people who did vote for me were Hispanic.
We all share the same problems. Either the things that we need to fix in our community, the high cost of housing, the fact that we have these low wage jobs everywhere that never seem to increase our salaries, the fact traffic is at a standstill and transit is completely unreliable. People are ready to stop talking about these things and have a commissioner that's a little more guided towards action.
Let's talk about some of the big issues. One of them: transit. The commission is going to be voting soon on this extension of the 836 freeway. So for me anybody that's lived in Miami has seen that all of the construction of our new freeways hasn't resulted in any shorter commutes or any less of a traffic quagmire. The idea that we would spend $600 million on a road rather than on transit in some of our most vulnerable lands to climate change.
Again that is just money that I'm not positive we're spending it in the right direction. I just think the solution to our traffic problems.Yeah, we need smart signals but we also need transit and we've been putting that off forever and we can't. So you Higgins rely heavily on public transit. That's very much how you get around. Where do you see the biggest challenges as a rider yourself? I mean it's really interesting being a rider versus sitting in a conference room.
We have low ridership in part because we've been cutting buses but we also have it because the service is so unreliable. The kinds of things that drive people away from transit: the buses that don't come, the buses that don't stop on time and some of the routes don't make sense they're so long. Another big issue is affordable housing. What can this county commission do in trying to help alleviate this problem? It's the county and the cities in conjunction but there are things that other cities who are facing this sort of problem are doing. Things we have not yet done.
So for example, inclusive zoning. In 2016, I was part of a group that was trying to advocate for mandatory inclusive zoning. If you want to build an 80-story, beautiful, luxurious, high-rise tower.
That's fine, we need those but. About eight floors or five floors should be for workforce housing. The commission decided not to vote for that inclusive zoning. They've instead made it voluntary and if it continues as a voluntary system it means the incentives the county has put in place aren't good enough to be making this happen, at a rapid enough rate.
We need to look at that and re-examine that again.