BayLink is a long-proposed transit connection between Miami and Miami Beach, Florida. Proposals have ranged from streetcar, light rail, monorail, Metromover, or Metrorail extension that would connect Downtown Miami to South Beach via the MacArthur Causeway, with the light rail or streetcar options potentially having loops at both ends. In 2020, the project was previously approved by commissioners as Miami Beach Monorail, a $770 million public-private partnership project (costing $1.8 billion over 30 years to the public) connecting 5th Street in South Beach to Metromover on the mainland at the Genting property in Omni. In November 2022, the project would be changed to Metromover because the budget did not allow for the proposed monorail and it would not provide a one-seat ride from Downtown Miami to South Beach. [1]
Originally proposed as an elevated light rail line such as a monorail, Miami Beach city officials opposed this in favor of something less intrusive, such as a streetcar. [2] Historically, Miami Beach has also cited concerns of unwanted downtown residents as a detriment to the South Beach image. Additionally, the unused parts of the bases of the MacArthur Causeway bridge pilings that were to be used to support the line have been used for the widening of the causeway for the construction of the Port Miami Tunnel, complicating a fully separated right of way. Officials still thought it was feasible as a light rail streetcar, and in 2014 were considering the possibility of a public-private partnership to help fund it. [3] In 2015, the cities of Miami and Miami Beach decided to break the estimated $532 million system into three pieces; two compatible light rail loops in Downtown Miami and South Beach to later be connected via MacArthur Causeway. [4] This was motivated by the lengthy federal studies required for a larger project. [5] French transport vehicle manufacturer Alstom gave an unsolicited proposal to build the Miami Beach portion of the system for US$148 million as a wireless streetcar system from 5th Street to Dade Boulevard via Washington Avenue. Alstom predicts over 20,000 riders a day just on the eight to ten stations that would be on the Miami Beach segment. [6]
In 2019 and 2020, resort company Genting Group proposed a monorail BayLink system that would connect to a new Metromover station located at their proposed Resorts World Miami Casino project in the Omni area. [7]
A rail connection to Miami Beach has long been desired due to its high ridership potential and lack of parking, automobile traffic, and other issues on the beach. Miami-Dade Transit's S bus route connecting downtown Miami to Collins Avenue is generally the highest ridership route in the Metrobus system. [8] Additionally, there are several other bus routes connecting the two cities which also have high ridership. In 2012, a Metrorail spur connected Downtown Miami to Miami International Airport but without any plan to extend it to the beach.
A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks.
METRORail is the 22.7-mile (36.5 km) light rail system in Houston, Texas. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 12,176,700, or about 44,300 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2023. METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th most-traveled light rail system in the United States, and has the highest ridership per mile for light rail systems in the Southern US. METRORail is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO).
Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) is the primary public transit authority of Miami, Florida and the greater Miami-Dade County area. It is the largest transit system in Florida and the 15th-largest transit system in the United States. As of 2022, the system has 60,734,900 rides per year, or about 248,700 per weekday in the third quarter of 2023. MDT operates the Metrobus with their paratransit STS systems run by LSF. MDT also operates two rail transit systems: Metrorail and Metromover.
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The Tri prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) along CSX Transportation's former Miami Subdivision; the line is now wholly owned by the Florida DOT. The 80.0-mile-long (128.7 km) system has 19 stations along the Southeast Florida coast, and connects directly to Amtrak at numerous stations, to Metrorail at the Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer station, Miami Intermodal Center, and MiamiCentral, and to Brightline at MiamiCentral.
Metromover is a free to ride automated people mover system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. Metromover connects directly with Metrorail at Government Center and Brickell stations. It also connects to Metrobus with dedicated bus loops at Government Center and Adrienne Arsht Center station. It originally began service to the Downtown/Inner Loop on April 17, 1986, and was later expanded with the Omni and Brickell Loop extensions on May 26, 1994.
Government Center station is an intermodal transit hub in the Government Center district of Downtown Miami, Florida. It is operated by Miami-Dade Transit and serves as a transfer station for the Metrorail and Metromover rapid transit systems and as a bus station for Metrobus, Paratransit, and Broward County Transit buses. MiamiCentral is directly connected via a pedestrian bridge over NW 3rd Street. The station is located near the intersection of Northwest First Street and First Avenue, a part of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center Building. It opened to service May 20, 1984, next to the site of a former FEC railway station which is now MiamiCentral.
Brickell station is a Metrorail rapid transit station in Miami, Florida, serving the system's Green and Orange Lines. One of the core stations of Miami's public transport network, it serves the financial district of Brickell. Combined, the Metrorail and Metromover station complex at Brickell sees roughly 8,430 boardings each weekday, making it the system's second-busiest station.
Adrienne Arsht Center station, formerly Omni station, is a Metromover station in the Arts & Entertainment District neighborhood of Downtown, Miami, Florida, United States. The station is adjacent to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, just west of The Miami Herald building and the Venetian Causeway, and directly south of the MacArthur Causeway.
Brickell is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, historically referenced at times as Southside, located directly east of Interstate 95, south of the Miami River and north of Coconut Grove. Brickell is known as the financial district of Miami, as well as South Florida.
Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida, United States. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It is divided by the Miami River and is bordered by Midtown Miami's Edgewater, and Wynwood sections to its north, Biscayne Bay to its east, the Health District and Overtown to its west, and Coconut Grove to its south.
Metrorail is a rapid transit system in Miami and Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Metrorail is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), a departmental agency of Miami-Dade County. Opened in 1984, it is Florida's only rapid transit metro system, and is currently composed of two lines of 23 stations on 24.4 miles (39.3 km) of standard gauge track. Metrorail serves the urban core of Miami, connecting Miami International Airport, the Health District, Downtown Miami, and Brickell with the northern developed neighborhoods of Hialeah and Medley to the northwest, and to suburban The Roads, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and South Miami, ending at urban Dadeland in Kendall. Metrorail connects to the Metromover in Downtown, which provides metro service to the entirety of Downtown and Brickell. Additionally, it connects to South Florida's commuter rail system at Tri-Rail station, as well as Metrobus routes at all stations. In 2022, the system had 11,951,400 rides, and about 45,400 per day in the third quarter of 2023.
Transportation in Florida includes a variety of options, including Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways, and Florida State Roads; Amtrak and commuter rail services; airports, public transportation, and sea ports, in a number of the state's counties and regions.
The Arts & Entertainment District, or previously known as Omni, is a neighborhood of Downtown Miami, Florida. It is bound roughly by North 19th Street to the north, North 10th Street to the south, North West 2nd Avenue to the west, and Biscayne Boulevard to the east.
Park West is a neighborhood of Greater Downtown, Miami, Florida. It is roughly bound by Biscayne Boulevard to the east, West (NW) First Avenue to the west, North (NE/NW) 7th Street to the south and Interstate 395 to the north. As of 2010, about 4,655 residents live in Park West. The neighborhood is named 'Park West' due to its location just west of Museum Park.
Resorts World Miami is the name of a major 13.9-acre (5.6-hectare) development proposed for the Omni District of Greater Downtown Miami, Florida, USA, by the Malaysian-based Genting Group. At 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2) and with an estimated cost of US$3.2 billion, it is considered one of the largest developments in the history of the state. The project was postponed several times as gambling measures failed at the state level. As of August, 2022, the property remains cleared, but no development has begun. As a concession for rights to build the large Casino project, Genting has proposed to build the long-sought BayLink system as a monorail linking Miami to Miami Beach, connecting to a new Metromover station within their project.
The Greater Miami area, composed of the three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, also known collectively as South Florida, is home to a wide variety of public and private transportation systems. These include heavy rail mass transit (Metrorail), commuter rail (Tri-Rail), automated guideway transit (Metromover), highways, two major airports and seaports, as well as three county-wide bus networks, which cover the entire urbanized area of South Florida. Census and ridership data show that Miami has the highest public transportation usage of any city in Florida, as about 17% of Miamians use public transportation on a regular basis, compared to about 4% of commuters in the South Florida metropolitan area. The majority of public transportation in Miami is operated by Miami-Dade Transit (MDT), which is currently the largest transit system in Florida and was the 14th largest transit system in the United States in 2011.
The Metrobus network provides bus service throughout Miami-Dade County 365 days a year, operated by Miami-Dade Transit. It consists of about 79 routes and 893 buses, which connect most points in the county and part of southern Broward County as well. As of 2022, the system has 41,854,200 rides per year, or about 175,600 per day in the third quarter of 2023.
MiamiCentral is a train station in Miami, Florida. Located in Downtown Miami, the station provides access to the Brightline inter-city rail service and the Tri-Rail commuter rail service. The station is part of a 9-acre (3.6 ha) mixed-use complex, which includes 3 million square feet (280,000 m2) of residential, office, commercial, and retail development.