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Front Page » Transportation » Massive pour keeps MiamiCentral on track for All Aboard Florida

Massive pour keeps MiamiCentral on track for All Aboard Florida

Written by on March 1, 2016
  • www.miamitodayepaper.com
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Massive pour keeps MiamiCentral on track for All Aboard Florida

An impressive parade of cement trucks wound its way into the heart of downtown Miami over the weekend to set the final foundation of the city’s new train station: MiamiCentral.

The largest concrete pour for the entire six-block-long project took more than 18 hours, beginning the morning of Feb. 27.

More than 550 truckloads of concrete were pumped into the final large foundation of the new Brightline train station.

MiamiCentral is scheduled to open in mid-2017 for the start of express passenger service.

The project is an inter-city passenger rail station and intermodal center for Brightline, which plans to launch its private passenger rail link from Miami to Palm Beach and eventually to Orlando.

The new rail station will be integrated with the Miami-Dade County Metrorail and Metromover systems, and is being considered a major transit hub for the city with connections to buses, trolleys, taxis and more.

Approximately 150 workers poured 5,500 cubic yards of concrete into the steel-laden foundation, in the shadow of the county’s Stephen P. Clark Government Center tower and Miami-Dade Transit’s Government Center Station.

Metrorail cars continued their north and southbound journeys as Metromover cars traversed and bisected the massive construction site while heavy-duty work progressed on both sides of Northwest Fifth Street.

As the sun set Saturday, the sky and the bright lights at the construction site were reflected in the towering glass face of the federal courthouse.

A fleet of about 100 trucks continuously brought concrete to the site during the pour. The work was managed by Suffolk Construction, the company that is overseeing construction of the station and MiamiCentral.

The transit-oriented development encompassing nearly 3 million square feet spans two sites: a 9-acre transportation hub downtown just east of the Miami-Dade County Hall, and a two-acre site in Overtown.

MiamiCentral will include mixed-use development with residential, office, commercial and a retail concourse, while serving as a connector between Brightline’s passengers and Miami’s existing public transport systems.

Site clearing and demolition on the 9-acre station site began in late 2014.

Following this pour, vertical construction will begin on buildings and train platforms.

The Overtown site is also a mixed-use development with retail, commercial and parking to support and enhance the transportation hub.

In Miami, the Brightline train platform will be elevated to align with existing public transportation systems, with retail spaces beneath. The design allows through streets to remain open to traffic and creates an atmosphere of walkability, while creating a landmark terminal, according to the company.

The Brightline station is expected to open in mid-2017 when service on the new express inter-city service from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach will also begin operation.

Service will begin with five four-car trains that will each carry 240 passengers. By June 2018 a total of 10 seven-car trains are to run, each carrying 356 passengers.

The trains are to travel between 79 and 125 miles per hour.

A later phase of the project is to include a mixed-use “super tower” on the southern end of the station. Draft plans show the super tower being home to 225,000 square feet of hotel use, 610,000 square feet of office space and 200,000 square feet of residential units.

While construction of the station in Miami moves ahead, construction has also begun at sites that will be home to new stations in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The project is estimated to eliminate more than 3 million cars from the region’s roadways each year, according to the company.

 

20 Responses to Massive pour keeps MiamiCentral on track for All Aboard Florida

  1. DC Copeland

    March 2, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    Good to see and read. BTW, this is where the new county courthouse should be built. Getting to it will be a breeze and less of a headache when you can take the train or MetroRail.

    • Richard Lopez

      March 3, 2016 at 10:43 am

      There was no mention in this article whether or not TriRail will connect with this station. Is it still part of the plan ? Many of us in Broward and beyond look forward to visiting downtown Miami.

      • marc

        March 3, 2016 at 12:10 pm

        Yes, a Tri Rail platform is part of the build.

      • Samuel Augustus Jennings

        March 3, 2016 at 6:27 pm

        You getem Senor Lopez!

    • Samuel Augustus Jennings

      March 3, 2016 at 6:29 pm

      What are the plans for the classic old courthouse?

  2. RC

    March 2, 2016 at 11:49 pm

    This train will be the biggest financial disaster to ever hit the State of Florida. No one wil ride it. It is more cost effective and convenient to drive. As gas prices continue to free fall a bad plan gets even worse. This should have been full high speed rail offering a travel time of one hour and twenty minutes. The time saved would have created the premium in cost over driving a car. A family of 2, 3, 4 or 5 will drive. The reality is that when you arrive in Orlando or Miami you still need a car.

    • Cesar M. Gonzalez

      March 6, 2016 at 3:08 pm

      Narrow minded thinking continues unabated…..Gasoline will be a thing of the past in a couple of decades as prices either skyrocket or fall so much that drilling becomes too expensive for oil companies….Car ownership is already starting a very slow but very real decline….Electric cars will put gasoline cars in museums…..High speed modern trains will be the way to travel longer distances….The same people who said that man would never fly in 1903 are now saying that electric cars and bullet trains are passing fads…Human genes have not changed in ten thousand years.

      • RC

        March 7, 2016 at 5:04 pm

        Exactly, it should have been high speed rail. You make an excellent point about more fuel efficient vehicles coming. It make no sense to pay a premium to take a 3 hour slow moving train.

  3. DC Copeland

    March 3, 2016 at 11:59 am

    RC, I agree Brightline could use a high speed rail component but I believe it will be a resounding success because even if gas prices drop (which they won’t), who in their right minds wants to live a life commuting back and forth in gridlock? That sounds like a description of Hell.

    Richard, to succeed greatly, TriRail needs to connect downtown. Hopefully the money will be found.

    • Cesar M. Gonzalez

      March 6, 2016 at 1:31 pm

      I wholeheartedly agree….Lower gas prices are temporary….High speed trains will be in heavy demand soon.

  4. Dr. Gray

    March 3, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    RC lives in a world of unreality. Obviously, unaware of rails fit w/existing transportation modes.

    • RC

      March 7, 2016 at 5:10 pm

      Actually, the State had the most adavanced planning for high speed rail in the Country, it was ready to go. The Federal Goverment had classified the Orlando – Miami route as ideal and cost effective due to the land being flat. I also believe it was to travel the turnpike route. It is and was very doable.

  5. John

    March 3, 2016 at 4:23 pm

    As I look at this development from my vantage point in North Carolina, yes, it does make these cities in Florida more attractive as living space. This is the best development I’ve heard out of your state in a long time. BTW, our regional rail service from Raleigh to Charlotte is phenomenal.

  6. Samuel Augustus Jennings

    March 3, 2016 at 6:25 pm

    I hope Miami Central downtown development still includes affordable housing.

  7. Huiyi Jackson

    March 3, 2016 at 11:58 pm

    I’m traveling to West Palm Beach every day for work. I-95 is really my nightmare. So many irresponsible drivers and the traffic is totally unpredictable. TriTrail is great but it does not go to downtown also has too many stops. I’m not sure how long I-95 can handle the growing population and tours. To me, the high speed train is urgent. In addition, the car pollution… I can totally feel it when I put my top down. Let’s speed up the project, cannot wait!!!!

  8. RC

    March 4, 2016 at 11:35 am

    Just to be clear, Tri-Rail and Bright Line are two completely different projects. People often confuse the two. Tri-Rail, connecting the three urban downtown areas in South Florida, is critical and much needed. The Bright Line train will fail. It makes no sense to take a slow moving 3 hour train ride to Orlando, not gonna happen.

  9. Jonathan S. Nelson

    March 6, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    RC,
    When Henry Plant called upon friend Flagler to ask where Miami was, friend Flagler responded to just “follow the crowd”. You might want to heed this advise because if you maintain your current attitude you probably will be the last one driving!I95,turnpike,I-4 parking anyone?

    Jonathan S Nelson
    Department of History
    Miami Beach Senior High School

  10. Ray

    March 6, 2016 at 10:51 pm

    Hopefully they will also expand the Tri-Rail west from MIA Intermodal Center to Sweet-Water, Westcheter and Kendall – and futher north to Jupiter.

  11. Jonathan Nelson

    March 7, 2016 at 10:44 am

    Expanding to these areas should have been done years ago. Removal of the FEC track between Hialeah and Kendall was idiotic from a transit point of view.In addition, turning the old FEC main from Miami to Florida City in favor of a bus lane was short sighted. In every study ever done, people prefer riding a train over a bus even for relatively short distances. Jerusalem’s light rail is a huge success and forcing the removal of Israeli buses which were notorious for their diesel noxious fumes. When will we ever learn. Long live All Aboard Florida! See you on the train Ray!

  12. Paul M Fletter

    March 22, 2016 at 8:17 am

    Thank you for fighting to get high speed rail in Florida. I hope you can change the view of high speed rail and one day in the near future we will get high speed rail on the gulf coast. I am proud to see progressive thinking in south Florida I hope one day we on the gulf coast will join the future.

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