The results of the Florida primary elections showed Miami-Dade County residents want a change when it comes to the county’s public transit system.
Nearly 80% of participating residents voted ‘Yes’ to a straw poll question, which was proposed and sponsored by Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert, asking if Miami-Dade should expand its public transit — specifically its Metrorail, passenger rail and Metromover.
While the straw poll was non-binding and didn’t specify a time frame nor a specific plan, the campaign to upgrade the county’s rapid mass transit seems to carry more momentum with the landslide re-election victory of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a supporter of public transit.
On the latest episode of the South Florida Roundup, WLRN’s Tim Padgett spoke with Cathy Dos Santos, Transit Alliance Miami Executive Director, and Douglas Hanks, a Miami Herald reporter who covers the county, about the impact these results could have on existing and future projects that aim to expand rapid mass transit in the county.
READ MORE: Ballot question to gauge voter support for expanding rapid transit in Miami-Dade County
The 2016 Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan, which identified transit solutions for major corridors in the county, has been one of the steps that Miami-Dade has taken towards expanding its public transit system. Eight years later, the expansion of bus infrastructure along the South Dade TransitWay, which runs between Dadeland and Florida City, is the only part of the plan currently in construction.
“They have been slowly making moves, we have been planning for so long, so it’s really the time to leave behind the snail pace and put the energy and the pressure behind our agencies to start delivering,” Dos Santos said.
Construction of the project is expected to be completed by April 2025. If everything goes well, this will be the first time county elected officials will be cutting ribbons and riding on things since the SMART Plan started, Hanks told WLRN.
“There will be things happening beyond PowerPoint presentations at the county commission chambers. If it goes well, I think it could create significant momentum,” he said.
Another project from the SMART plan is the Baylink, which would extend the Metromover to South Beach, along the Beach Corridor. Earlier in the year, members of the Miami Beach City Commission unanimously opposed the plan. While the project doesn’t need the approval of Miami Beach and is set to be funded by the county, the opposition could bring challenges to its implementation.
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“That is a project that is largely founded and I believe that it could start very soon if elected officials truly start applying pressure,” Dos Santos said. “Political pressure is applied in all sorts of projects across Miami-Dade all the time, and our elected officials really need to start to turn it into transit.”
The Northeast Corridor extension, which would connect Downtown Miami to Aventura with a commuter rail, is another project from the SMART Plan. Earlier this year, the Biden administration recommended $263.7 million in federal funding.
“With those dollars, the conventional thinking is that it could get done,” Hanks said. “It’s probably the next SMART corridor line that will be moving towards the green light,” Hanks said.
Voters were promised Metrorail extensions as part of the half-penny transit tax over 20 years ago, with only the commuter rail extending in 2012 when the Miami International Airport stop came online.
You can listen to the full conversation above or wherever you get your podcasts by searching: The South Florida Roundup.
