$81 million Metromover express put into transportation plan
Transportation planners want to spend $81.3 million to create Metromover express service between the current Government Center station and a future Herald Plaza area station.
The money would fund a feasibility evaluation, simulations, design criteria and design-built services to modify the Metromover guideway to bring express runs to the planned station at Biscayne Bay and Northeast 14th Street, which is to be the mainland hub of new rapid transit to Miami Beach as part of the county’s Smart Plan.
County commissioners at the Transportation, Mobility and Planning Committee meeting last week approved the spending as part of the five-year implementation plan of the People’s Transportation Plan.
The five-year plan also added funding for projects of the Smart Plan and new projects such as the Mount Sinai Multimodal Smart Terminal and the Downtown Intermodal Terminal.
The adopted five-year plan is still pending full county commission final approval.
Notable changes to the 2022-2026 plan include a $13 million increase for the Smart Plan East-West Corridor Project Development & Environment (PD&E) study for a total allocation of $25 million, and a $23.8 million increase for the Smart Plan Northeast Corridor Planning and PD&E for a total of $25 million.
The Smart Plan North Corridor Planning and Implementation received $11.1 million, an added $8.8 million; and the Smart Plan Flagler Corridor Planning and Implementation got $287,500, which is a drop of $855,500 as the Federal Transit Administration added to its funding share.
Also, $18.23 million for the Metrorail Tri-Rail Station Traction Power Substation, an increase of $6.23 million; and a $127.7 million Metromover comprehensive wayside overhaul, a $35.6 million increase from the prior five-year plan.
New projects added to the plan are a $225,000 transit oriented development master plan for the Beach Corridor; a $1.7 million Mount Sinai multimodal Smart terminal that would provide parking along the Smart Plan Bus Express Rapid Transit Route F1 – Beach Express North and Route F2 – Beach Express Central.
Additionally, a $35 million downtown intermodal terminal would create enough bus bays for all buses terminating in the Government Center area, customer service and passenger waiting area; $3.3 million to build direct ramps to and from the Dolphin Station from the SR 836 extension; and $13.2 for Vision Zero projects to reduce fatalities and serious injuries related to mobility.
Commissioner Kionne L. McGhee requested at the meeting that the entire plan be adopted, but to separate and vote later on the South Dade Bus Maintenance Facility as the area identified by the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) “is not suitable or conducive for that particular type of construction facility that they’re looking to do.”
Mr. McGhee argued that the preferred location is “in the middle of a single-family community.” As a result, Commissioners Danielle Cohen Higgins and Raquel Regalado proposed an amendment to not specify a location of the facility yet, which was adopted.
DTPW Director Eulois Cleckley noted a risk of increasing costs to the project that the county would have to absorb if commissioners decide they want to find another location. The current cost estimate is $56.2 million, according to the document presented.
“We have evaluated several properties,” Mr. Cleckley said. “Again, this is the preferred site. The rest of the properties have had issues with respect to access or environmental issues or [are] not in a position to be as efficient as possible as compared to the preferred site.”
Linda
January 19, 2022 at 5:57 am
why there?
Bandit
January 19, 2022 at 11:18 am
Its so half baked to have so much money put into the Metromover and still chose to go with a monorail, why don’t we just upgrade the entire Metromover system and expand it to the beach and the design district rather than build two separate systems… Just Miami things
browneyesinhomestead
January 19, 2022 at 11:28 am
why did you need to get to/from government center plaza to/from a herald plaza any faster? Plan ahead with extra time and there would be no need for this. what a waste of money.
matt
January 19, 2022 at 8:12 pm
so that you don’t have to drive
Robert
January 20, 2022 at 12:26 pm
98% please of commuters use cars
Gerwyn Flax
January 19, 2022 at 8:52 pm
Why not insist that the Asian company that is behind the planned monorail build an extention to Government Center, as part of the overall monorail system? This would eliminate Metro Mover and thus make the experience more seamless. Why would a tourist for example, landing at MIA, be forced to use 5 different modes of transportation just to get to Miami Beach, including a bus to a hotel?
It is so obvious that Genting is only interested in infrastructure that will eventually serve their inevitable casino on Biscayne Bay. Total incompetenice on the part of County/City negotiators.
Mr T
January 19, 2022 at 9:21 pm
Is there any mention of station platform doors. Now you have a plan of express trains running/ whissing through stations this should be considered.
Robert
January 20, 2022 at 12:28 pm
The smart plan in the age of smart devices and smart cars, relies on ancient technology. Makes no sense at all except for those that will benefit from building the boondoggle
ItsEfficiencyStupid
January 25, 2022 at 3:56 am
STOP! “It’s the “Efficiency” thing for me stupid!”
It looks like were are about to spend money here and there again, and Tri-Rail/Brightline F’ed up money poured into the Miami Central Project, and now have to spend more money to re-do some things. Not sure if our community leaders are aware, tax payers cannot continue to pay for their screw ups because the economy is tanking and we the people will go down with the ship if we don’t speak up. I’m sure you’ve seen the empty grocery store shelves and establishments closed because of worker shortages or the supply chain has evidenced a bottle neck. “Taxpayers are struggling bad, so stop wasting our money!” Get things right the first time, and learn how to make good systems great! It saddens me when I see supposedly less inferior countries with better rail infrastructure. Why does this seems so hard for us Florida? I’m just not getting it.
Why not STOP, DROP, and ROLL to see what the top countries are doing, since the US is obviously not leading in the rail industry, coming in 12th place according to Salas(2021). Like Steven Abrams of Tri-Rail, I have ridden his trains and Miami-Dade Metro-Rail and Mover, and they do not stack up in efficiency,cleanliness, and innovation like other countries. South Florida transportation planners and leaders should STOP taking taxpayers money until they level up with a better plan to sync all of the plans from Miami to Orlando together. Yep, this would mean one overseer who approves all phases of this synced transportation plan, that will channel in from the cities, counties, municipalities and special districts/agencies. Yes, I know it will be tough to give up some control, but could it be in the best interest of those how rely on excellent and efficient transportation? However, a hodge-podge of plans will not work efficiently. It creates confusion and leads to waste. If I could give leaders a directive, it would be deliver me an “excellent & efficient” modes of transportation that’s innovative and connective, utilizing the IoT infrastructure strategy.
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
1) Bring in transportation experts from China or Japan to assist us or send ours over there for training and mentoring. It’s okay to admit we may lack the expertise in the US. I’m a firm believer that if you cannot beat them “yet” collaborate and pay attention.
2) Approve the Biden Infrastructure plan so we can build back better. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…It’s not about Biden, it’s about getting the resources to help us get to “excellent & efficient.” Therefore, I’m not going to cut my nose off to spite my face. I have children who will one day need great transportation. We invest in so much other BS, dammit why not great transportation for our children children?
ARTICLE:
Railroad services – most efficient countries 2019
Published by Erick Burgueño Salas (7/2021)
It probably comes as no surprise that in a global 2019 survey of railroad efficiency, the top two places went to Japan and Hong Kong, with scores of 6.8 and 6.5 (out of seven) respectively. What may come as a surprise though is that the United States raked a 12th place, with a score of 5.5, beating Germany and Russia, who both scored 4.9.
Efficiency
In the survey, efficiency was measured broadly, combining categories such as frequency, punctuality, speed and price. Of course, this measure is subjective and does not take into account external, objective factors. For example, the density of rail networks and overall levels of ridership do not appear to be reflected in the efficiency ratings.
Passenger rail
Broadly speaking, passenger rail can be divided into two categories: intercity and urban. Intercity rail runs between different cities, usually operated by a large, state-owned or subsidized national carrier such as Amtrak in the U.S. or Deutsche Bahn in Germany. Conversely, urban rail operates in a single city or metropolitan region, and can include a multitude of providers operating a combination of suburban trains, subway systems and light rail networks. Passenger rail volumes are much higher in the Asia Pacific region than anywhere else, followed by Europe then North America.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262743/20-countries-with-the-highest-quality-of-railroad-infrastructure/
Tom
January 25, 2022 at 7:10 pm
All good, urban growth saves the natural areas of our beautiful country because it does not promote sprawl.
Transit Rider
February 15, 2022 at 9:55 pm
The inept county commissioners continue to fund pet projects and pay more for less. Instead of having Metro Mover to the Beach and Wynwood directly tied to the downtown transportation hub, the TPO decided to require transit riders to make multiple changes and go to Genting Casinos site vs anywhere people want to get to. This has required them to now add 80 million for what should have been a part of the original plan and why was it not in the original plan? Cost. Supposedly they chose the private monomrail because it was cheaper, but now we know it will cost 2x as much as they bid and an additional 80 million for MetroMover express. This all means more costs, less service.