‘All options’ back on the table for transit in North Dade

Written by Miami Today on July 1, 2026

Long-sought North Corridor mass transit for Miami-Dade is again returning to the starting point as state officials seek money to plan a less-costly way to engineer a 10-mile trip to the Broward County line.

Meanwhile, those officials are wrapping up plans for a $4.2 billion heavy rail system, a study they will shelve as soon as it’s done as they then change directions at the request of the county’s Transportation Planning Organization.

Heavy rail would cost $54 per trip, far worse than the $35 highest cost on the federal yardstick for effectiveness – the best rating is under $8. It would also cost 23 times as much per mile to build as South Dade rapid transit buses that opened last year, the county’s most recent transit addition.

The county planning organization in April requested the switch in North Corridor plans, and not for the first time. In 2019, less than a year after the organization chose fixed guideways for the route, it reversed itself and chose heavy rail. Now, it has broadened the search.

“The resolution calls for all options,” Nilia Cartaya, modal development administrator for the Florida Department of Transportation, told the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust last week. “So it could be heavy rail. It could be light rail. It could be a streetcar. There’s a universe of possibilities that we have to look at now.”

That means a new study, for which the state is developing parameters, Ms. Cartaya said. The state also must find funds to begin that new study, which now has no deadline for completion.

Funding expectations for the corridor have been that the state would pay 25%, the U.S. 50% and local sources 25%. The county would compete for the federal funds with projects elsewhere, so effectiveness ratings could be pivotal.

The corridor along Northwest 27th Avenue from 62nd to 215th streets would have eight stations and seven park-and-rides. Stops include Miami Dade College’s North Campus.