Miami-Dade (Including Miami Beach) Overwhelmingly Favors Mass Transit Expansion

Miami-Dade voters are strongly in favor of expanding rapid mass transit in the county, according to the results of a referendum held yesterday.

The question posed to voters in yesterday’s primary election read:

Does Miami-Dade County need to expand its existing rapid mass transit system? (Rapid mass transit is defined here as elevated Metrorail, passenger rail, and/or Metromover)

When all votes were tallied, nearly 80% voted yes.

In Miami Beach, where politicians recently voted unanimously to oppose the Metromover expansion to South Beach, the vote was even more lopsided.

Over 80% of Miami Beach votes were cast in favor of rapid transit expansion, according to Better Street Miami Beach.

The referendum is nonbinding, and the intent by politicians was to gauge public support for mass transit.

It came after a proposal earlier this year by the county mayor to issue billions in bonds. That plan created controversy after the public learned it included funding for roads, among other things, but not rapid transit.

 

 

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transplant
26 days ago

Wonder what their excuse will be now

Anonymous
25 days ago

County commissioners need the money to attract more Chinese to vacation here and pitch B.S. virtual rail.

NoJodas
26 days ago

Good – now they need a 15 million dollar study to do a 10 year environmental impact study

Anon
26 days ago

And they will put some vans downtown, call it “metro link” and call it a day. I have zero faith in this county gov

Jordan
25 days ago

The govt is best when it does nothing.

Usa
25 days ago

That’s like saying people are best when they do nothing. Gov is the human collective and what makes us all patriots 🇺🇸

hur dur
24 days ago

not when it comes to infrastructure jack bag

NIMBY
26 days ago

I fully support expanding transit, just not in my neighborhood [how most people think].

joaquin
21 days ago

why not though??? not having to get in your car and be stuck in traffic to get to places sounds fantastic to anyone with common sense

Anonymous
26 days ago

Non-binding referendum is politician speak for “we pretended to do something without really doing anything.”

Anonymous
26 days ago

Miami’s vertical growth is insane. traffic is bad now and with so much density it will get a lot worse. We don’t have time for more studies or referendums , we need to start building now at Chinese speed

Robert Smith
25 days ago

Despite local politicians gaslighting us for decades, nobody in Miami likes sitting in traffic and dealing with crazy people on the roads. What a shock.

Expand the metro. Not buses. Trains.

NOT ME
19 days ago

Citizens should file a class action lawsuit against the County for failing to follow through on the promised expansion of metrorail to the stadium for which they were charged additional taxes for almost twenty years.

Michael1
26 days ago

Good news! For many years, I have advocated building a new line that would serve needed destinations. My idea:
Use the existing alignment going north from Dadeland South, but branching off at Douglas Road, going north on 37 Avenue. Stop at the Alhambra and Douglas Entrance. From there, turn east on 8 Street, to 27 Avenue, stop at Miami-Dade CC InterAmerican. Go north on 27 Avenue to Flagler Street, turn east, stop at Miami Senior High. Continue east on Flagler, stop at 17 Avenue (the only stop in my idea where there is no defined destination). Go north on 17 Avenue, stop at LoanDepot Park. Go north and cross the river, connect with the existing alignment at Civic Center. Go north and branch off from Allapattah. Go west on I-195 (use a couple of lanes) and exit at Midtown Miami.

For the segment on Flagler Street, there would be an issue with right-of-way. My idea would be to use either the tiered system as in some Asian cities in which you have one set of tracks above the other. Alternatively, the system could bifurcate at Flagler Street and Beacom Boulevard. Have one direction on Flagler and the other on SW 1 Avenue.

Kurt
26 days ago

Nice idea. What about extended a branch along I-195 to Miami Beach ?

anonymous
26 days ago

probably too cost prohibitive. For SOBE extension you really need to only expand on the 395 to go across 5th street and then north up Washington or Collins and stop at the Collins park next to convention center. That route would get a substantial amount of use since you’d be connected ultimately to the airport

Kurt
25 days ago

I get that. But I think connecting Mount Sinai would help solve some traffic issues.

Michael1
26 days ago

I’ve thought of that. It would stop at Mount Sinai hospital, but in all directions from there, the density is too low.

Kurt
25 days ago

Right. Mount Sinai and Fountainbleu are the biggest employers on the beach

Michael1
25 days ago

Yes, but the issue there would be getting from one side of Miami Beach to the other. Putting a fixed guideway down 41 Street is probably not the answer as there is no parallel street to accommodate vehicular traffic.

Michael1
26 days ago

I also think that there should be more local light rail systems that would interconnect with the main lines. One could connect other stops in Coral Gables, such as Coral Gables Hospital and a stop on Ponce de Leon and connect with the line above at Douglas Road and Douglas Entrance.

Anonymous
25 days ago

There is a fifty-year-old plan for Metrorail lines. All that needs to be done is to implement it.

Intheknow
14 days ago

Gee and umm that and uhh where to find all the billions to pay for it…other than hundreds of billions in nonexistant funding, yeah they’re ready to go

Michael1
25 days ago

One correction: from Allapattah go east on I-195.

Pete
25 days ago

Nothing will be done right away. If anyhting will get done, it will be 20 years from now when all of it is obsolete. They do not get the urgency of the situation.

MiamiRob
24 days ago

We had a Sales Tax for Transit Expansion referendum that passed in November 2002. It’s been 22 years since then & all we got was an expansion of Metrorail to the Airport. We should have had Rail to South Beach, Aventura and out to West Dade by now. Instead the County is wasting it’s time with these useless Non-binding referendums.

Intheknow
14 days ago

It’ll take far more than a half cent sales tax increase to pay for anything beyond the Airport extension. More like a 1.5 cent increase to fund Metrorail to everywhere in Dade, and the MiamiRobs of the world would scream bloody murder.

anonymous
26 days ago

County can get a large portion of the county connected with some extensions in certain areas. It would be nice to see the following…

1) Extend metrorail west on SW 88th street all the way to the end of Kendall at Baptist Health West.
2) Extend metrorail down to Southland Mall due to large redevelopment happening there.
3) Extend metrorail on east/west line out to FIU
4)Start on the NE corridor up to Aventura
5) Extend metrorail north on NW 27th Ave all the way to hard rock stadium

If the county at least did a few of these extensions it would give a large amount of people easier access around the county.

Intheknow
14 days ago

Ready to pay another 1.5-2 cent sales tax increase for all that? cause that’s what it’ll take regardless of what politicians will tell you. Yeah mike drop.

Julio Tuttle
25 days ago

Why Is it so hard to just work on all the approved plans from years and years of studies or maybe on the original plan of everything that included expanding the metrorail E-W, for example

Lolita
25 days ago

Miami Beach politicians sadly sold out to a small but vociferous and wealthy minority in the south of fifth area, forgetting that the bay link was approved by the vast majority of Miami Beach residents way back in 2002! I hope this silent vast majority votes them all out of office. Those politicians may be in touch with the rich, but they are not in touch with reality!

Julio Tuttle
25 days ago

Other:

tram on Coral Way to take from Brickell to Coral gables.
Tram from Brickell to West through Calle 8 (instant boost to tourism in the area)
Rail to Hollywood, sunny isles, etc

Anonymous
26 days ago

But M. Beach elected officials keep voting against it.

Cover the podiums
26 days ago

The only answer is MetroRail. Not metromover. And the metro rail will have to go underground in the densest parts the core

Lynx at Miami Tower
23 days ago

For example the East-West platform is really just the West platform isn’t it? There’s no path for it to go east from there including how would it get over the bay or the port? Or where would it turn north?

Miami Beach
25 days ago

we need this metromover to Miami Beach, Not the politicians to block it !!! they don’t use it !

Grady Muhammad
25 days ago

No. No. No.

Politicians will only divert the money for other causes.

Remember the Florida Lottery and the existing half-cents sales tax for transit?

Enough said

Miami Beach taxpayer
26 days ago

The mayor of Miami Beach Steven Meiner and the 6 Miami Beach commissioners have opposed the extension of a rail system to connect Miami to Miami Beach.
Commissioners:
Kristen Rosen Gonzalez
Laura Dominguez
Alex J. Fernandez
Tanya K Bhatt
David Suarez
Joe Magazine

Anonymous
26 days ago

Miami Beach can’t really support many more people coming and going than already are. If anything they should put tolls on the causeways.

Anonymous
25 days ago

Star Island has a constant red-light situation that is akin to a toll. I would prefer a toll and a green light over the existing stupid situation at Star Island.

Replying to anonymous
25 days ago

Is not the amount of people the problem. Is the number of cars. The number of cars will not go down without better public transportation. Miami Beach still needs the workers that come to clean hotels, Airbnb’s, condos. Work in restaurants, serve you on the beach, etc. Venetian, Rickenbacker and Brod causeways have tolls and are always full of traffic as well.

Intheknow
14 days ago

more taxes and tolls! give the government more money because they’re better at spending it than us useless workers and residents…JFC

Azarius
26 days ago

Vote them out!

Anon
25 days ago

Sounds like a porn star name

Bryan.
24 days ago

Expand the freaking metro rail, the people of Miami love to suffer in traffic.

No road, No rail, No future
24 days ago

Good, making progress. Now the enviromental study of the referendum results can be funded. The study of this referendum’s results should begin around summer 2026 and take 3 years to complete. Results will be posted 18 months after completion around winter 2031. If all goes well an actual referedum can be put on the ballot for 2032 and then actual studies for actual construction of mass transit can begin and take 4 years to complete. Proposals will then begin to be accepted around 2036 and a winner will be chosen 2 years later. Construction of the first mass transit expansions should start a year afer that and take 8 years for completion. Optimism abounds that the first 1.5 miles of the new expansion of metrorail can be opened around 2048.

Martino
25 days ago

How can we get the nod from the Miami Beach Patrician Class? Simple. The inbound trains are reserved for essential workers, residents, and their registered visitors. For the general public, the outbound trains are offered free of charge.

Commissioners are corrupted
25 days ago

Car dealership cartels will fight this

Anonymous
20 days ago

I wonder if they will fix the existing metrorail cars…. You know the ones that leak so bad that when it rains, it rains inside….

But most people in this city haven’t taken a metrorail ride in more than a decade so they wouldn’t know…..

Anonymous
25 days ago

Metrorail, commuter rail, and streetcar. No Metromoober please.

Melo is sigma and chad
25 days ago

No streetcars

salt water intrusion
24 days ago

i think a streetcar system would be quicker and cheaper to build…no need for elevated train lines….just convert some existing lanes for streetcar….

Yes to rapid transit
14 days ago

Expand Metrorail via the Julia Tuttle cause way to the convention center. Put a stop at the hospital. . Put it partially at ground level and save money. Buy out some of the homes on the way to the convention center to keep the neighbors happy.

Robert
26 days ago

The headline of this article is “sensationalism”. I am an avid voter and guess what, I forgot to vote. A very small percentage of specific people voted in this unpopular election.

Anonymous
24 days ago

All this transit is a huge waste. All I see are empty buses driving around. If we eliminated half the useless county jobs, we could eliminate the need for metro rail too. Far few people would need to go downtown and do nothing.

Jordan
25 days ago

If in the question they added the dollar amount per mile to build it, and the dollar amount per rider per year to operate it, no way the results would be the same.

Bilbo Baggins
25 days ago

Keep this crap off the beach.

Anon
25 days ago

No. You can keep fighting it but you will lose eventually.

Bilbo Baggins
25 days ago

Great, I’ll fight until I’m dead. The beach is busy enough and the zoning density trojan horse that comes with the Baylink should be a non-starter for all beach residents.

MiamiRob
24 days ago

14,000 people ride Buses into Miami Beach everyday adding to the traffic nightmares on the Causeways. Baylink will just remove those people from traffic & unto Rail.

Anon
22 days ago

K don’t let the door hit you on the way out lol bye