North Corridor rapid rail transit still a 12-year wait
Don’t plan to ride North Corridor rapid rail to Hard Rock Stadium until 10 years after World Cup games are played there in 2026.
The long-awaited North Corridor is expected to open in 2036, Nilia Cartaya of the Florida Department of Transportation told the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust last week.
The trust oversees county transportation tax receipts, which are to fund the rail line along with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the state. The estimated cost is $1.9 billion, but with the exact mode of travel and the route up in the air and land acquisition not yet begun, costs and funding will be a moving target.
The good news for the trust is that planning, design and engineering for the line has finally begun, Ms. Cartaya said. “It’s underway now as we speak.”
Those steps are to finish in 2026. They were frozen after the county in 2022 pulled the plug on a call for public-private partners and then bought the private bidders’ studies.
That detour to private developers and then back again had left state work dormant from May 2020 to November 2022 “and during that time of course environmental documents go stale, traffic analysis goes stale, and we have to reengage with our partners – and particularly FTA partners – to determine how best to move forward and restart the project,” she said last year.
Focus now is on forecasting travel demand and structural analysis. Next is buying the right-of-way from 2026 to 2030, then an anticipated six years of construction, Ms. Cartaya said last week.
The 9-mile corridor from Northwest 75th to 215th streets along 27th Avenue is to link to Miami Dade College’s North Campus, Calder Casino and Hard Rock Stadium. The corridor in its present form has been in county plans since 2016.
The new rail mode won’t reduce auto traffic lanes along the route, Ms. Cartaya said. “We want to make sure we don’t take away from one mode to” add another.
Roger
June 5, 2024 at 4:15 pm
Another set back. I know that we want to get this right the first time, but can we just get the SMART Plan done! Sheesh!
Jay
June 7, 2024 at 12:18 pm
What’s disappointing is that the mayor posted the video promising this before the World Cup and they had to have known that this wasn’t feasible.
Tony Alfonso
June 8, 2024 at 8:28 pm
But they are spending 880 million on a signature bridge that serves nobody iam done with the agency that runs our transit system they are all a bunch of crooks what a shame .
Jeff Cohen
June 8, 2024 at 9:31 pm
They always want to build these as mega projects which take years and $Billions. Better to build one station at a time and the track connecting to it. Year 1: acquire lane for first segment. Year 2: design first segment and acquire land for second segment. Year 3: construct first segment, design second segment and acquire land for third segment. Year 4: open the first segment, construct second segment, design third segment and acquire land for fourth segment. Etc. this way, starting in year 4, one segment opens every year.
Brandon Berretta-Paris
June 9, 2024 at 10:52 am
It’s Sad. Perhaps they can deploy those outdated trolleys, with the sign “Your Half a Penny at Work,” on the route until the rapid rail is operational in 2037. It’s absurd to witness growth in all other modes of transportation while there’s been no increase in rail services or the People Mover in Miami. This stagnation persists even as the city’s taxable income surges from $424 billion in 2023 to an anticipated $469 billion in 2024.
Tony
June 9, 2024 at 8:31 pm
Time to take back the half penny sales tax.
Michael Davew
June 17, 2024 at 8:53 am
The corridor that needs the Metrorail desperately is along Biscayne! Not 27th ave! No residential density along 27th and it’s mostly industrial car oriented area. The heavy diesel rail line with Brightline and Tri-rail on the freight tracks along Biscayne is unreliable, yet they cite it as a solution. Start spending funds wisely rather than stuffing public funds into the pockets of private interests of Brightline and Herzog. Miami Dade county doesn’t even have the transit department anymore. It’s handled by the Public Works department