Photo: Signature Bridge Arches Under Construction

A photo taken this week shows the Signature Bridge arches under construction in downtown Miami.

According to a presentation to stakeholders his month, the project remains on schedule for completion in late 2027. The budget has also not changed recently, and remains at $840m.

 

(photo: Phillip Pessar)

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Seattle Slew
18 days ago

That is going to be phenomenal for the neighborhoods that connect underneath the suspended deck, and aesthetically enhancing the museums and cultural centers.

High and Dry
18 days ago

Maybe so, but it’s been a nightmare for the last 4 and next 4 years.

Jordan
17 days ago

Nightmare is relative.
But, the traffic wasn’t great BEFORE construction. On ramps on the left with cargo trucks trying to cross from the Southside to the norts8de to get to the i95N ramp would back up traffic to parrot jungle.

The tunnel helped a lot. But there were still enough trucks to screw up traffic.

MHH
13 days ago

That’s because the tunnel did not address the EXIT situation, forcing all trucks getting out of the tunnels to change all 3 lanes to get to the right exit… (of course this had to be done before the actual exit needed and it was after the hill, making it harder and to top it off, at that very same junction you had left coming into I-95 wanting to go south and vice versa… so Bottle neck…). The new 12 lanes will address the “loop” but where are these 12 lanes going?? You guessed it… right into 3 lanes on MacArthur… so they just changed the bottle neck.

Nico
12 days ago

Wrong.
The reconfiguration of I-395 alleviates all that mess coming out of the port tunnel.

really?
15 days ago

been a nightmare in that area since the 80’s

Nico
12 days ago

Again.
Nightmare is relative.
My very first drive on the MacArthur was in 1988 when it was a drawbridge from the mainland to Watson Island.

My first trip to Miami was a dream….not a nightmare.
It inspired me to live on Hibiscus Island for about 10 years.

Cover the Podiums
18 days ago

Look at the renderings. There are adding 4 new lanes to I-395. So even though it will be new bridges, its going to be like 12 lanes wide. Its going to be super dark underneath there

Anon
18 days ago

It’s not. Have you looked at the design presentation for the bridge? How they get sunlight under there is explained well.

Cover the Podiums
17 days ago

Check again my guy. They have a rendering where they overlap the old highway with the new one and it’s significantly wider. At one point all lanes merge together and there are zero gaps for sunlight to go in. It won’t be this beautiful park they selling us. The highway should have been buried underground for that stretch of highway like Boston or Barcelona

Anon
18 days ago

I don’t recall ever seeing a positive comment from you … maybe if there are liner units on some building you say something positive but even then there is usually something else wrong. Happy much?

Batman
17 days ago

None of the overpasses are inherently dark; they only appear that way because the City has neglected them, turning them into rundown parking lots. Instead, these spaces should be revitalized with fresh coats of paint, resurfacing, and transformed into well-designed parks, much like the Underline, particularly around the government center. Plus, people thrive more within the landscaped areas in Miami and prefer parks that are not sun scorched.

Jordan
17 days ago

No it won’t.
Instead of being 25ft above ground, the suspension bridge deck will be 50+

Right now, it’s dirt. Nothing darker than being buried under a 20 ft tall mound of dirt.

Cover the Podiums
14 days ago

Yes 50ft +. But it’s twelve lanes wide with no gaps. It’s gonna be ugly underneath. Sorry for being pessimistic

Nico
12 days ago

Pessimistic is your problem…not mine.

The truth is…there are gaps, and a very high deck. Yammer on and on, yet the project is amazing to the people who know.
The immaterial plebes can yammer on and on and on and on…..

Nico
15 days ago

“Super dark” ? What does that mean?
Sounds like you do not really know what is going on with the design of this suspension bridge or what is happening underneath the deck.

BDub
18 days ago

“On schedule” if you ignore the original 2023 completion date.

Jenna
14 days ago

You are also ignoring a world pandemic that disrupted all world’s economies.

Realtalk Reilly
14 days ago

The economy had nothing to do with it, the bridge was budgeted before the pandemic and money has never been an issue. To the contrary, the huge drop in traffic during the pandemic should’ve enabled them to accelerate the project considerably but they did not take advantage of that.

Nico
12 days ago

Genius…get educated on how the supply chain problems delayed the delivery of crucial construction materials.

Anonymous
18 days ago

People keeps saying every major city has a signature bridge, and of course, that’s what miami goes after. Not public transportation, not protecting the Guzman center, coconut grove playhouse, the tower theater or the miami circle, the housing problems, I’m sure I’m missing something. Almost a billion dollars on a bridge

anonymous
18 days ago

What you and most people dont realize is that City of Miami nor Miami dade county decided on this. Rather, the FDOT gave the money to the county and city as long as they used the money to rebuild the bridge. While i def think this much money could have gone to expanding metrorail i’d rather the county take the money

Anonymous
17 days ago

The money could have been split with the I95 signature bridge over Miami River, which needs the same type project if not better to update the space below to be more pedestrian friendly!!!!

Jordan
17 days ago

The project discussed here crosses the Miami River as 836.
The improved ingress and egress to I95 is not the suspended bridge portion.

anonymous
15 days ago

East Little Havana/River Side/West Brickell needed that and a upzoning a decade ago, now its even worse. Do you know why it hasn’t happened yet? Because the big developers and big wall street firms dont want there to be any competition that could undercut their developments in Brickell and Downtown. They’re keeping the regular people and the small real estate professionals to be kept down. Meanwhile this bridge looks nice, but the area underneath it will always be the pits.

Nico
12 days ago

This is quite possibly the most inane comment that has been posted here.
That is saying a lot.

The Wall Street people are creating a grass roots movement to deny the SW 2nd Avenue name change to “Park Avenue”

Jordan
17 days ago

Not true.

Anonymous
16 days ago

I do know that and still consider it a waste of resources

Nico
15 days ago

No.
Florida Department of Transportation is the lead on this project. They didn’t “give money”, FDOT is using it.

https://i395-miami.com/ is the place where you can sign up for email alerts and updated information.

https://i395-miami.com/project-video/ is a video that explains tor project.
(Note: 80% of the video discusses the I-836 & I-95 improvements. The rest is about I-395 and small bit about the “Signature Bridge”. While highly visible, the Signature Bridge is not the costly part or the most important part of the project.)

Jordan
17 days ago

Get educated.
The bridge needed to be fixed. A need. Not a want. The budget was approved.

In a rare stroke of brilliance, local leaders said , “Well, as long as the Feds and FDOT are allocating funds for this massive infrastructure project between our Airport &Seaport, why don’t we advocate for great design and public spaces?

The “Signature part” is a fraction of the cost of the infrastructure project.

really?
15 days ago

dude, what? you just brought in 5 different issues that have nothing to do with road construction and traffic congestion. Try to figure it out, there is a budget set aside for each of those things individually. Go complain to the county or the city, but don’t say that “Miami” does this and that with its budget, its a select group that you have a gripe with, not MIAMI

Romana
18 days ago

The Romans would have built it in one year .

Anonymous
17 days ago

Kamala will call if Miami officials don’t move faster and cut the red tape!

Nico
12 days ago

Who?

Anon
17 days ago

they had slaves, we got Davis-Bacon wage earners and OSHA guys running around the site

Nico
12 days ago

I asked my buddy if he would still vote for Kamala Harris if he learned that her mother was a Caucasian from India, and her father was a Hindu/Irish whose father was a slave owner.

Of course…the fact that Kamala Harris is actually white, and her Father’s side of the family owned and prospered from owning slaves, is still okay with him.

He won’t believe it, he won’t research it.

But, the girls on THE VIEW told him that Donald J Trump was a racist and mean tweeter, and that is good enough for him to blindly support an heiress living off the slave trade and STILL needed the “support” of Willie Brown.

Anon
17 days ago

they had s-laves, we got Davis-Bacon wage earners and OSHA guys running around the site

Jordan
17 days ago

That’s good!!!

Realtalk Reilly
14 days ago

That is funny. Jokes aside though, it’s hard to find a structure anywhere in the world that took longer than 10 years to build, which is how long this one will take by the time it’s all said and done. Every time I drive by I see about 5-6 guys working and about 50 standing around comemierda.

Nico
12 days ago

Hard to find….?? On a 1 to 10 scale?

Feel free to ask my friend Google about Basílica de la Sagrada Família.

Anonymous
18 days ago

No wonder it’s taking forever is the budget it the same, because that money is worth less every day.

Anon
17 days ago

how else can even just the interest on the federal debt be paid?

Jordan
17 days ago

Only one good way.
Grow the private sector.
Shrink the FEDERAL Government.

NeoCons will try to push for war as stimulus.

s.k
18 days ago

Is it me or those arches look like Spider-Man’s Doctor Octopus appendages. Just add a body on top and voila.

.305
18 days ago

Cool that the pictures are in black and white! 100 years from now this will be history.

Anon
18 days ago

….what..?

Anonymous
18 days ago

Even more beautiful than I expected, the connection between Brickell, Downtown, and Midtown is starting to become visible and very alive, which is breathtaking. The city has transformed dramatically in just a few months.

Cover the Podiums
18 days ago

Love the bridge but its not going over a river or lake or anything crazy. Its going over US high 1…

Anon
18 days ago

Ha, perfect example.

Jeez
17 days ago

you explained yourself

Jordan
17 days ago

Yes, and Bayshore Dr, and NE 2nd Ave, and the FEC Railwail, etc.

The suspension bridge is long and tall, and will make an impactful difference for connectivity of neighborhoods to the waterfront, baywalk, museums, and parks.

Voltaire
18 days ago

Great !! And the overpass of 836 around JMH will be finished in 2127 , since there’re only 5-7 construction workers at the site !!

Al those concrete column’s already built resemble the Easter Island monoliths…

🤗

James S
17 days ago

A thousand percent this. I moved to Miami in 2021 – three years ago – and that portion of the project has made literally NO progress, apart from casting *one* new pillar last month. There are never any workers to be seen anywhere. It’s going to take them almost a decade to rebuild three miles of highway, which is laughably pathetic.

All the signature bridges in the world won’t make Miami a first rate city. Third world, third rate. Not fooling anybody.

Jordan
17 days ago

“Literally NO progress”?

Is it possible that you do not know enough about Freeway Infrastructure projects to know what you are talking about?

It is certain that you are not getting the FDOT email updates that I get.
When you get educated on the subject, it becomes apparent what an ambitious project it is, and how much work is getting done.

Welcome to Miami where dummies speak louder than those who know.

Nico
15 days ago

That is simply not true.
Of course there has been significant progress on that portion of the project.

Batman
17 days ago

Why don’t they increase the budget by $2–6? Does the DDA really believe people will get excited over savings equivalent to half a Big Mac, especially when they’re loudly demanding more expansive efforts and faster progress on infrastructure replacement?

Nico
12 days ago

Oh no….I always envisioned Batman as a hero and an incredible civic leader fighting truth and justice.

Now….even Batman is privy to the Fentanyl

Batman, the Downtown Development Authority is not involved in the funding of Interstate Highways.

Old school
17 days ago

Was this picture taken in the 1920’s?

Anonymous
16 days ago

Idiot