FYI Miami: September 17, 2026

ARSHT CENTER UPGRADE: The building management system of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts will get a $500,000 upgrade paid for equally by the Adrienne Arsht Center Trust and the Florida Department of State’s Division of Arts and Culture. The system that controls the 20-year-old center’s mechanical and electrical equipment, which includes the HVAC, lighting and security, is in line for the upgrade. Because the state money is to be used only for cultural facilities, the county will enter into an agreement with the state that the Arsht Center, which the county owns, will be used for cultural purposes for the next five years. The county’s Recreation, Tourism, and Resilience Committee approved the agreement last week. It now heads to county commissioners for final approval.

RUSH TO REPLACE: A committee last week sped up a $101 million contract to replace 25 explosives detection machines in Miami International Airport’s North Terminal, a project that is to take nearly five year, in order to get early county commission approval. The machines, spread among five security clusters, are outdated, with manufacturer servicing, maintenance and software no longer available. They’re part of the baggage-handling infrastructure in the terminal and are to be replaced with next-generation screening. The federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will decommission and remove the old machines. “We have a timeline as far as grants are concerned,” Aviation Director Ralph Cutié told the Aviation and Seaport Committee. Noting the TSA’s role, he said “we have to have the infrastructure work that we’re responsible for and get that done as quickly as possible.”

STEP TO A BRIDGE: An agreement pivotal to federal funds to replace the deteriorated Bear Cut Bridge that is the only connection linking Key Biscayne to the rest of Miami-Dade cleared a vote by the county’s Infrastructure, Innovation and Technology Committee last week without comment. If it passes the full county commission, it will formalize the county’s obligation to undertake a study based on national environmental policy that is a requisite for any federal funds going to the project. The last major bridge repairs in 2014 were expected to keep it functional for 10 more years. Key Biscayne residents have been concerned about the impact if a storm were to destroy the weakened bridge, which was built in 1944.

DORAL TRANSIT OK: Doral has cemented an agreement with Miami-Dade County allowing the city to use its share of the charter county transportation system surtax to operate on-demand transit connecting residents to key areas of the city. The service began operating in April 2024 but there was no formal agreement until last week.

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