Year delay adds to cost of South Dade Transitway

Add $3.7 million to the cost of the South Dade Transitway, one of the six corridors of the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (Smart) Plan and the only corridor already under construction.

A one-year delay to begin Transitway operation announced a year ago as supply chain issues choked off concrete, steel and fiber strands needed for the communications and technology systems along the 20-mile corridor has triggered additional cost for other work.

County commissioners on June 6 are to vote on the $3.7 in added fees for construction, engineering and inspection services by HNTB Corp., which oversees the actual construction work by OHLA Contractor Inc., a Spanish multinational construction and civil engineering company.

OHLA already has been given extra time to complete the job, so HNTB will have 400 extra days of oversight work, including wrap-up efforts after OHLA is finished. OHLA was not granted additional funds to complete the job under the extended contract.

The Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust last week unanimously approved adding to do that work $1,486,167 of transportation surtax funds that the trust oversees. The rest of the money is to come from a federal grant, state transportation department money and county road impact fees paid by developers.

Trust Chairman Oscar Braynon questioned the HNTB oversight cost, which he noted was almost $10,000 per day.

Alex Barrios, the assistant director for construction of the Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works, explained that the inspection of the dedicated high-speed bus corridor covers a 20-mile-long stretch with 14 stations and 46 intersections with roadways with multiple staff members at each location, as well as a field office operation.

But, he said, the contract is based on time and materials costs and $3.7 million is “a worst-case scenario…. This is not a lump sum. They don’t get all the money unless we authorize it.”

The corridor, which broke ground in June 2021, was originally to be in operation in January of this year. A year ago that was pushed ahead to March 2024.

Eulois Cleckley, Department of Transportation and Public Works director, told the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust a year ago that the department’s decision to adopt a design-build model, which advances two phases at the same time, had accelerated the project, then still estimated at $299.9 million total cost.

The Transitway runs from the Dadeland South Metrorail Station to the Southwest 344th Street Park-andRide/Transit Terminal. It is to operate 100% with battery electric buses, making it “one of the longest and cleanest BRT [Bus Rapid Transit] corridors in the country,” Mr. Cleckley said.

The 20-mile route is to offer a 60-minute ride from Homestead to downtown Miami through an exclusive right-of-way, parallel to US 1, with signal preemption. It is to include two end-of-line terminals at Dadeland South and Southwest 344th Street, 14 transit stations and 16 additional stops for the All-Stop Route.

Features are to include passing lanes at the stations and off-board fare collection to speed up the entry of passengers to the buses.

The project also includes a five-level parking garage at Southwest 168th Street and the Transitway, with about 645 parking spaces, bicycle storage, electric vehicle charging, kiss-and-ride area, and public restrooms.