The developer of the proposed monorail between Miami and Miami Beach has increased the cost by nearly double to what one county official calls unaffordable, according to the Herald.
The new estimate also makes it comparable in cost to building a Metromover extension on the route.
The design and build cost for the Monorail submitted by the developer was originally estimated in 2020 at $587 million, and is now just over $1 billion.
A study published in 2019 had estimated that both a Metromover extension and a monorail would have each cost around $1 billion. Operating costs on the monorail were estimated to be slightly lower.
In October 2020, Miami-Dade voted to move forward with negotiations to have the private developer build the Monorail system, based in part on the low bid.
Now, the county deputy mayor who oversaw those 2020 negotiations told the Herald that the county could not afford the new pricing.
