Commissioners Move Forward With Expedited Metrorail To Hard Rock Stadium

Miami-Dade commissioners voted yesterday to expedite design of the North Corridor heavy rail system to Hard Rock Stadium.

At its January 9 meeting, the county’s Transportation, Mobility and Planning Committee voted 9-0 to increase funding to infrastructure design firm HNTB by $44 million, to a total of $49.5 million for the project.

The North Corridor of the SMART Program involves the extension of nine miles of elevated heavy rail from the Martin Luther King Metrorail station to the Miami-Dade/Broward County Line.

The project includes the construction of eight stations and five park-and-rides.

To accelerate the completion of the project, a phasing strategy is planned.

For the first phase, an eight-mile extension of track will be built, along with a Miami Dade College Station and a terminal station at NW 199th Street (Hard Rock Stadium).

The remainder of the project (additional stations and park-and-ride facilities) will be built in the second phase.

The approach will significantly reduce project execution time due to the reduced land acquisition requirements, the county says.

The expedited approach represents the county’s greatest opportunity to pursue federal funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act within a limited timeframe (under four years) as well as other programs that otherwise would not be available to support the corridor, according to a memo.

If not for this approach, the potential to secure and leverage federal funds would be significantly diminished, the memo said.

A Project Development and Environment Study is also being done by FDOT in parallel to HNTB’s design work in order to accelerate the start of work.

 

 

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Anon
4 months ago

Good to know all they need is a splashy event to do what their citizens have been voting for and begging for for several decades.

Brickell Underline Development Advocate (“BUDA”)
4 months ago

Can the Commissioners please take advantage of this limited time federal funding opportunity to renovate Jose Mart Park into an iconic Underdeck like the one being created in Overtown/Park West? There are a lot of parallels between projects and can serve a broad base in City and County District 5, including much needed Brickell growth infrastructure and a major federal highway I95.

and
4 months ago

while not iconic the new park will be transformative and signature

Bring Blade to Miami
4 months ago

Can we get Blade helicopters from Miami to Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale?

anonymous
4 months ago

what a joke the county commissioners are. For decades they could have worked on the issue of expanding the metrorail the areas of the county that would have benefited from this. Now all of a sudden the world cup is coming to town and they get a whiff of federal funding it can be expedited.

The sad part in all of this is that they will get this done and then go back to their constituents and showcase themselves as great leaders and those voters will then be dumb enough to vote them back in smh

Anon
4 months ago

We’re never going to see those other stations.

anonymous
4 months ago

probably not. However, if they somehow manage to get the two stations done i’d still take that as a win

Ana
4 months ago

Heaven forbid there are stations going westward through flagler, bird or kendall road.

anonymous
4 months ago

in a perfect world they would build the extension they are doing now. That would hit a good portion of northern dade county where people could park and ride, Then extend west to get as close to FIU as possible, extend all the way down to homestead and get rid of the bus lane route and lastly extend as far west down Kendall drive.

With a route map like this it would hit a very large portion of the county where most people would be within a 15 minute drive from a station.

Anonymous
4 months ago

Homestead doesn’t have the population or density to warrant Metrorail, nor would we necessarily want to encourage it, instead building infill.

South Beach, Little Havana, etc. do, however.

wanderer34
4 months ago

I believe extending Metrorail all the way from Miami to Homestead is doing too much. It’s best to just extend TriRail all the way to Homestead and possibly to Florida City and even Key Largo. from MIA Intermodal Center.

Best Value Location for Extension at Lowest Cost
4 months ago

Agree, Little Havana and Coral Gables along 8th Street would have much greater value and significantly decrease traffic around Miami.

Anonymous
4 months ago

That is quickly changing with scores of new apartment buildings going up along US1 between Dadeland South station and Naranja, but I agree there are many higher priority areas that should be served 1st.

Ana
4 months ago

Homestead is not nearly as close to the southernmost Dadeland station as Little Havana, South Miami and Kendall are to the Flagler station, the 40th street/Douglas stop, and the 88th street stop that already exists on the Metro line. Sure in a perfect world connect the metro all the way to Key West and up to West Palm, but in the immediate reality it would be nice to get just one westward arm of the metro to the people that live south of the 836

Brickell ❤️ Little Havana ❤️ Coral Gables
4 months ago

I recommend extending to Little Havana first. People in East Little Havana can walk or bike to Brickell and further away they can metro to Brickell. It should end in Miracle Mile where there are lots of offices and residents and workers without cars.

Best Value Location for Extension at Lowest Cost
4 months ago

Little Havana could really use one, like the L train from Manhattan to Brooklyn. The great thing is that it wouldn’t cost a lot and could end in Coral Gables.

Marco Polo
4 months ago

Agree, phase two will never happen in our lifetime, if ever!

Anonymous
4 months ago

You will never see the first two either. This is simply to get the funding going to put $ in the pockets of ‘designers’. Every 5 yrs they pay their buddies for a new design as if they are updating with the ‘latest technology’. They could save that money and go with a design done 15yrs ago and it would make little difference. Bozos and clowns yet they look at you all and say, “what does it say about you, the constituent if you put us here while calling us clowns!” hahahhaa

Confused
4 months ago

Or head-shakingly vote “YES” on another tax increase for mass transit.

James
4 months ago

The county commissioners + mayor of Miami are a joke. They should stop eating donuts / drink cafecito, and start to WORK hard and seriously for the community. Miami is so so so late in everything. Where the money is invested? Why everything takes years to be build in Miami? They should travel and look other cities like Dubai, Paris, Tokyo how fast everything goes. Bottom line, nothing never gonna change if people keep voting for them. Wake up.

SOSuarez
4 months ago

Agree, does Miami even have a local
Government? There’s no 311 to call. The elevator inspectors don’t pick up or respond to emails. The parks are in shambles and the sidewalks are falling apart.

I would think that all the property tax increases would be going back into the communities. Is there a full accounting of the budget so we can see where the money is going and actually get a say?

Anonymous
4 months ago

Lots of people in my downtown office live in Miramar and Pembroke Pines–like around half. This will be very beneficial to them. The Golden Glades express bus gets caught in the same traffic mess that cars do. This won’t.

anonymous
4 months ago

and think about lost time when driving. At least if you’re on the train and it has wifi you can do some work. I took brightline to my office in West Palm Beach from downtown miami and it was great being able to get work done for an hour rather than focusing on driving

anonymous
4 months ago

it probably wont happen but the county should hash a deal with Dolphins stadium that gives them some land near the station to building a large parking garage and build some affordable housing as well. Dolphins are getting the best deal ever getting that station and should put up something with the massive benefit they will get

Name*
4 months ago

Good idea. Just not too ugly or overshadowing the stadium.

What the?...
4 months ago

“Just not too ugly or overshadowing the stadium”

Anonymous
4 months ago

Right. Because the stadium and surrounding 20 acres of asphalt are just architectural masterpieces.

Anonymous
4 months ago

The team needs a proper hall of fame/museum like other franchises have. Way overdue and a great attraction for the area.

anonymous
4 months ago

let them build it themselves lol. Why should taxpayers be solely on the hook to provide a light rail train stop directly in front of their stadium

Anonymous
4 months ago

It is surrounded by affordable housing, but people complaining about housing costs don’t want to live “there” go figure.

Anonymous
4 months ago

$400K handyman special money pits in the hood in a town with $60k/yr MEDIAN household income is affordable housing?

Anonymous
4 months ago

$60k annual income is nothing these days…

Drac
4 months ago

You mean “its better than nothing.”

The Truth
4 months ago

This will totally work! It’s only been what, 21 years, since the half-penny transportation sales tax went into effect and look how much transportation we’ve built!

Anonymous
4 months ago

B-but, look at all the Commissioners’ shiny new boats and park renamings!

Miami Seasick
4 months ago

Really? That can’t be true….

The Commissioners couldn’t be naming parks after friends or prioritizing their lavish lifestyles. That would DISGUST me and every voter, especially when we see the condition of the parks in Brickell and downtown.

Anonymous
4 months ago

If they are going to build it, build it with one or two stops at the stadium and county line. Part of the Metrorails problem was the awful decision to put half the line in Liberty City and Hialeah, where the ridership numbers have been atrocious for 40 years now. There doesnt need to be 8 stops on 27th when the people who are actually gonna use the system are gonna be the commuters in South Broward and parts of Miami Gardens/Miami Lakes. Make it less time consuming with minimal stops and you might actually see ridership increase. Otherwise they are better sending the money to build down in South Dade or out west to FIU.

Anonymous
4 months ago

The FIU link is key

Anon
4 months ago

I feel you on this. Only other stop that I would add would be the stop next to MDC north. It was always a pain getting there from AP

Kitty W
4 months ago

We all know it should never have been done this way, but sure: We can fix it in post.

Choo Choo
4 months ago

Glad to see the MDC station opening with the initial construction too rather than just the stadium. I know Broward talked about extending this line into their county if we ever got it done so hopefully they follow through on that. I’m just happy to see a metrorail extension getting done and hopefully we don’t wait too long for the infill stations.

Sub Tropics
4 months ago

Palmetto station could also extend to the new dream Mall and then up into Western Broward.

Anonymous
4 months ago

That “Dream Mall” is gonna remain just that. And taking Metrorail into Broward would require more planning then they could handle. Look at how hard it is to get extra Metrorail service in just Miami-Dade County.

Melo is sigma and Chad
4 months ago

Think there will be major pushback by residents for skipping additional stations even though they;re future plans for them.

Anonymous
4 months ago

Extend high-capacity rail to a stadium surrounding by freeway interchanges, but to South Beach or Doral with higher population densities and traffic? Nope, Metromover and BRT! Should be called the SMDH Plan.

Anonymous
4 months ago

I hope it’s ready for the 2026 world cup but I don’t think it will

Anon
4 months ago

They are expediting it so that it is ready in time

Anonymous
4 months ago

Finally!! This is what change looks like once the commissioners that have been in office for over twenty years leaves. I am glade things are beginning to take off.

Anonymous
4 months ago

I understand what you mean. The newer commissioners are more open minded to fixing transit than widening more lanes. I was shocked when I was watching the meeting.

Anonymous
4 months ago

You mean they talk about it, but do nothing and blame it on somebody else for doing nothing.

Anonymous 1
4 months ago

This is good long term news. Short term it would be great if the phase to Hard Rock stadium was completed by the hosting of world cup games.

Anonymous
4 months ago

Thats kind of the point.

wanderer34
4 months ago

After reading many of the comments on here, it’s just best to build this North Extension before the World Cup. Most people are right on here that this line should’ve been build and that a worldwide main event like the World Cup should’ve never been used as a catalyst for finally securing funding, but either way, the extension needs to be built pronto as this line needs to be the primary priority before we even think of the white elephant known as the Metromover extension to Miami Beach!

Anonymous
4 months ago

An elephant could carry more people more efficiently than the Metromover and not break down.

wanderer34
4 months ago

HA HA HA!!! Very funny!

Anonymous
4 months ago

Was the World Cup the only catalyst? They’ve had Superbowls there and not a peep about Metrorail to the stadium. Also NCAAF championships and tennis tournaments and even F1racing.

Sub Tropics
4 months ago

There’s only 3 years not 4 years until the next World Cup since it will be in summer 2026 like normal, not in the fall.

Anonymous but Famous
4 months ago

FIU and Cutler Ridge, fine, but these would cost a fortune.

What l never have understood is why Metrorail isn’t extended west beyond the Palmetto Station to just west of the Turnpike. Other than a bridge over 87 Ave and the Turnpike, it could operate as a regular ground level RR, with familiar traffic control poles to allow for cross traffic. Due to this fact and the short distance, l cannot think of a bigger bang for the buck and a larger assured ridership.

Anonymous
4 months ago

And while we’re doing this can we also upzone the area around this line to encourage transit oriented development

Brickell Underline Development Advocate (“BUDA”)
4 months ago

Can the Commissioners please take advantage of this limited time federal funding opportunity to renovate Jose Mart Park into an iconic Underdeck like the one being created in Overtown/Park West? There are a lot of parallels between projects and can serve a broad base in City and County District 5, including much needed Brickell growth infrastructure and a major federal highway I95.

Name
4 months ago

They need to extend the rail west. Every new route from all rails are north and south.

Anonymous
4 months ago

Would be better to extend Metrorail down NW 37th Avenue, connecting to Freedom Park and Douglas Road Station.

Melo, the true giga chad
4 months ago

why are people crying about this? do you know how many cars this will take off the road during games and concerts?? the world cup was just a catalyst

anonymous
4 months ago

i dont think people are mad that the stations are being built. People are made because for decades the county promised (and taxed) residents the metrorail and its been a complete joke. They are only doing this to give themselves brownie points and maintain their seats. Even though public transit is needed in the county they never would have done this unless the world cup came which is sad

Anonymous
4 months ago

If park and ride worked, Tri-Rail wouldn’t be bleeding money and I-95 wouldn’t be a parking lot. Speaking of which, who in their right mind will leave their car in a parking lot in Miami Gardens for ten hours a day?

Anonymous
4 months ago

The real benefit won’t be taking cars off the road for games and concerts, which occur during non-peak hours. It will be from reducing rush hour traffic with park and ride commuters taking the train into town instead of driving.

El Piton
4 months ago

Have you ever waited for an Uber after a game or concert? It can be hours

Anonymous
4 months ago

People are “crying about this” because our leaders have just made it blatantly obvious that they care more about the press they’ll receive from the World Cup then they ever will about their own constituents.

Anonymous
4 months ago

If taking cars off the road mattered, Metrorail would be extended to South Beach instead, as well as Little Havana, FIU, and Doral.

anonymous
4 months ago

Wrong approach. We’ll never see those “in-fill” stations. And what a terrible way to describe them. That’s where people (read: readership) and where development potential lies.

Anonymous
4 months ago

All the TOD on the blue line hasnt done anything to increase ridership in these areas. Bypass them all together and get to the commuters in South Broward and Northwest Dade who would actually use it, as opposed to the mythical people off 27th who havent used the system for 40 years.

Original
4 months ago

They could include the stops but just eliminate the park and ride portions they’re also planning.. that should reduce cost and waste.