Transit studies out, revenue hunt in
The head of the Miami-Dade County committee that targets transportation says he wants transit projects to become more than just ideas on paper. The county has commissioned studies on new transit but committee members say little has come to fruition.
“We have seen over the last couple of years every study possible done on corridors and what needs to be done. I don’t propose that this committee should launch any more studies or investigations or think-tanks,” said Esteban Bovo Jr., who chairs the Transit and Mobility Services Committee. “What I do believe has to be our mission is to identify sources of funding that could… get these projects done.”
Projects on the table include light rail to link downtown and Miami Beach and a streetcar line in Miami’s urban core. Both ideas pre-date the past recession but construction has started on neither.
“I’m not here today to commit to one corridor or another,” Commissioner Bovo told the meeting. “But I will tell you this: We need to pick a corridor and we need to get it done.”
He went as far as to say that if there’s no dedicated funding by the end of his two years as committee chairman, he’d consider his tenure “a failure.”
Mr. Bovo added that he will approach congressional and state legislature leaders about Miami-Dade’s traffic woes.
“I don’t expect the federal government to fund 80% of our projects,” he said. “What I do expect is for us to come up with a plan that is funded 80% and ask them to top it off.”
The county collects a half-cent sales surtax that was meant to expand Metrorail. But revenue was diverted and just one of eight promised projects was built.
Among revenue sources that Mr. Bovo mentioned at the first committee meeting Feb. 11 are a bed tax and public-private partnerships.
marc
February 25, 2015 at 12:18 pm
Baylink, forget the streetcar.
anon
February 25, 2015 at 12:51 pm
miami beach wants bus rapid transit so build the trolley in miami and bus on baylink. since david dermer, miami beach has been vehemently anti light rail.
B
March 7, 2015 at 5:30 pm
No, sorry, but the vast majority of actual VOTERS of Miami Beach approved RAIL as part of the PTP vote in 2002!!! It is MANDATED TO BUILD RAIL!!!!
Ben Grimm
April 10, 2015 at 10:58 am
There’s no mandate. People love to use that word a lot though.
gregory
February 25, 2015 at 9:50 pm
First off help fund trirail’s expansion and tie in trirail with all aboard florida. Then fund rail to Downtown to Miami Beach and stop diverting funds and giving seniors freebies !
Ben Grimm
February 26, 2015 at 9:51 am
Bovo wants 80%? He must be the funny one of the committee. The median household income here is $33k. Developers continue to push further west and build skyscrapers that are a quarter parking. Almost all of the highways are tolled pushing poorer drivers onto already crowded roads. With the tolls going to overflowing coffers (update: more money for roadside landscaping). Revenue from freight and tourism disappears the minute it steps on dry land here.
The needs of residents and the wants of lawmakers here are diametrically opposed.