East-West rapid transit pivots to two new routes
A long-standing plan for bus rapid transit from downtown Miami to West Dade has been shelved as planners have decided to try two other paths to reach Florida International University. One is rail, the other an elevated Metromover along Flagler Street.
The plan agreed upon last week is to try both paths and forget the aim of bus rapid transit down the center of SR 836.
The rail line belongs to CSX, a freight carrier that the county has been trying persuade to share its rails with a commuter line whose operator is still unknown. The elevated Metromover option first surfaced last week as an alternative to waiting for CSX to agree.
To accomplish that, the Transportation Planning Organization, which oversees transportation plans in Miami-Dade, voted unanimously Thursday to ask the Florida Department of Transportation to sidetrack a planned study of bus rapid transit using Flagler and use the money instead to look this year at the feasibility of an elevated fixed guideway along Flagler.
No price tags or timetables were attached to either alternative, which remain sketchy ideas to be worked through to finish the east-west corridor of the county’s smart plan for new tax-funded mass transit that was unveiled eight years ago.
Board member Eileen Higgins, who chairs the county’s transportation committee, unveiled the elevated Metromover option by noting that “our east-west congestion remains unresolved.” She said she had brainstormed with heads of both county transportation and the area’s state transportation department, both of whom were present, “about what would be a backup plan in case the CSX project falls apart in a year or two.”
Ms. Higgins underlined the need. “We all agree that Flagler is our highest ridership corridor going out to FIU, which I think has 100,000 people working there on any given day, and we do not have a way to get people out,” she said. “We have a possible solution with CSX, but they control the tracks. Flagler Street is our street – it’s the State of Florida’s local street, but it’s our street, and we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to figure out.”
“Right now,” Ms. Higgins said, “it takes almost 90 minutes if you leave downtown to get to FIU or vice versa. If we did a Metromover extension to FIU we might be able to get folks out there in 35 or 40 minutes, which is really life-changing for the folks, and we have the opportunity to add existing connectivity up on 87th Avenue.”
Board member and county Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez said it would impact a full solution to the east-west corridor conundrum “if we could ever get CSX to come to the table” to make a deal. He said he had talked with the freight carrier about the opportunity to get South Dade passengers to West Dade via one of their three spur lines from the south to Miami International Airport and link there to the east-west CSX route.
County Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez replied that studying the CSX solution is already county commission policy even if a Metromover study runs simultaneously.
Ms. Higgins told board members they “need two paths” to an east-west route. She said the Florida Department of Transportation, the federal government and the county’s transportation team all agree that a plan for bus rapid transit along 836 is not going to be one of those paths, based on both cost and feasibility. “We’re not moving forward with this project, the one that’s in the middle of 836.”
Miami Mike
January 31, 2024 at 5:36 pm
Hallelujah. It’s about time that the county got with the program and realized that rail is the solution. We should start using existing rail lines and lay track and hang electrical catenary for trolley, streetcar and tram lines. Take those slow buses off our roads.
Keith Buchanan
February 1, 2024 at 4:14 am
Eileen Higgins has lost trust in the traffic arena. She pushed for a Bus in south dade, which Cost 300 million and saves about 5 minutes in travel time. I will br voting against more funds for transit, not because I don’t think the county needs better transit , I do not trust the county with the money and it pure revenge for a vote a against metro real south
Deanna
February 1, 2024 at 4:24 pm
How about expanding the metro to west Kendall. Down Kendall drive to Krome. With stops at Baptist hospital, town and country mall and west Kendall hospital.
Tim
February 1, 2024 at 5:37 pm
This plan sucks. The east-west CSX tracks snake through the most underpopulated areas and is unfriendly to pedestrians, sandwiched between a hostile expressway and a busy international airport runway. Plus, passengers would have to take a shuttle from the final station to the university.
Those stations between the airport and FIU will sit empty. I doubt this will meaningfully reduce congestion if you have to make multiple transfers just to get from downtown (where the density exists) to FIU. First orange line, then train, then shuttle. At that point, people would rather take their cars on the 836 than jump through the hoops of this Frankenstein of a line.
The Metromover idea is nice because it will probably be a direct seat from downtown to the university on a more populated street but it’s such a long distance for a Metromover. Who knows if the tires on those metro cars will last or need constant replacing.
AJ
February 2, 2024 at 7:54 am
More nonsensical election year posturing from Higgins, who championed the Better Bus failure and is now feeling the heat and trying to divert attention. That corridor should be a proper Metrorail extension, not a puny, undersized and undercapacity Metromover extension. Anything else besides Metrorail would be disconnected from the rest of the network. This obsession with not expanding Metrorail is a disease and the remedy is to vote these people out.
A Rey
February 28, 2024 at 4:34 pm
Completely agree, Metro Rail should be the at all the main lines north/south and East/West trains handle the large passenger volumes and MetroMover as the minor spurs going into the neighborhoods.
All elevated nothing on the ground.
Jay Jay
February 3, 2024 at 1:51 pm
They rolled out the Better Bus Network in November and it has been a total failure. The worst ever. It doesn’t give us much trust in Higgins and her colleagues.
Strong Towns South Florida
February 16, 2024 at 2:55 pm
Is complete BS when they say they don’t know who the operator would be for commuter rail. (NE, E-W, South Dade) There should not be any discussion other than TRI_RAIL! They already operate commuter rail for the entire South Florida region. Stop trying to send contracts to private companies for campaign contributions and stop creating 500 transit operators. We need simple, efficient solutions, convenient options of ALL types, but first stop building roads and enlarging toll roads! Everyone needs to contact Tallahassee where roadbuilders are trying to limit transit funding to 20% which would kill all of these transit projects thru state pre-emption.