In August, almost 80% of Miami-Dade County voters said they wanted more public transportation trains. It was a non-binding vote but an overwhelming endorsement to grow mass transit.
While there is no price tag on what it would take, the sponsor of the ballot question floated a minimum cost range on Thursday.
“I hate giving actual numbers, but I'll tell you, it won't be anything less than six or seven billion dollars,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, III. He made his comments to WLRN at a Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce meeting.
“ I'm serious about telling you how much it will actually cost. I'm serious about telling you that we need to do it,” he said.
Gilbert represents most of northern Miami-Dade County, including Miami Gardens, where he served as mayor before being elected to the county commission in 2019.
The county’s so-called SMART plan envisions five corridors across the county. The first — bus rapid transit — is expected to open next year on the existing South Dade Busway. The electric buses will run on the 20.5 mile dedicated two-lane road that runs alongside U.S. 1 from Metrorail’s Dadeland South station to Homestead. The project cost is $368 million.
The rapid transit buses will have priority at intersections only during morning and afternoon commute times. The project’s original opening date was April 2023. It is now expected to start carrying passengers sometime early next year. The route includes 14 new BRT stations allowing for passengers to get on and off buses without having to step up or down.
“ I'm excited about it because what it's doing is giving us an opportunity to demonstrate that we can actually do something,” Gilbert said.
Another project is the county’s Northeast corridor for a train to use existing Florida East Coast Railway tracks that are used by Brightline and freight trains. It is expected to cost $927 million. The state has OK'd $200 million.
The Federal Transit Administration gave its preliminary approval of $389 million in October. However, Congress still needs to appropriate the funding and time is running short before it adjourns. The federal government faces a Dec. 20 deadline to approve new spending or face a shutdown. A new Congress will convene Jan. 3.
“ We have gotten no indication that it's not something that won't be funded,” Gilbert said. “This appears to be something that people on both sides of the House want to do.”
The county’s portion of the Northeast corridor will come from the People’s Transportation Plan. That’s the half-penny sales tax voters approved in 2002 to help pay for transit.
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With those two transportation projects, that leaves four other SMART plan corridors in various stages of planning. The North corridor tracks NW 27th Ave. to near Hard Rock Stadium. The East-West corridor from the car rental center at MIA along the Dolphin Expressway to the Tamiami Terminal just west of SW 137th Ave. The South corridor runs from Dadeland South Metrorail station along Kendall Drive west to Krome Ave.
"Nothing's going to get cheaper," Gilbert said. "If you choose not to do it now, but you acknowledge that it needs to be done, what you're conceding is that you have to pay more later."
Gilbert said funding options to generate money to complete the vision include a dedicated property tax, a sales tax and issuing debt.
“ I think it would be dangerous for us to take them individually because someone will get left out,” he said.
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