Smart Plan corridors: South Dade BRT nears completion; FDOT and county advance Northeast, beach and East‑West studies; Flagler demonstration found infeasible

Department of Transportation and Public Works and Florida Department of Transportation staff updated the trust on multiple Smart Plan corridors at the June 25 meeting, reporting near‑term milestones on the South Dade Bus Rapid Transit project, progress on Northeast corridor engineering, ongoing work on the Beach corridor and a new feasibility study for Flagler following a capacity analysis that deemed the prior bus‑lane demonstration infeasible without extensive mitigation.

South Dade BRT (DTPW): DTPW told the trust the 20‑mile South Dade transitway is near completion. Staff said construction is roughly 95% complete, 13 of 14 BRT stations have been accepted from the contractor and 90% of intersections are fully integrated with signal and gate arms. The project includes 14 new stations, two park‑and‑ride sites and 100 battery electric buses procured for the program; DTPW said 42 of the buses will serve BRT service. DTPW reported it has paid approximately $93 million of a $107 million People’s Transportation Plan contribution to the project and expects remaining invoicing this summer.

Northeast Corridor (FDOT/DTPW): FDOT described the Northeast 13‑mile coastal link as the first segment of a longer coastal connection. FDOT noted the corridor has an estimated total cost in its order‑of‑magnitude material (presenter figure) and cited a planning‑to‑engineering transition; federal New Starts participation was discussed as a potential funding path. FDOT said the procurement of rolling stock is on the critical path and that agreements with private operators or other agencies (operating entity selection) remain under negotiation; the agency is working toward a May‑2026 workshop with the Federal Transit Administration to advance the project’s rating and potential federal engineering funding.

Beach corridor and Miami extension: DTPW said the Beach corridor work includes three segments and that the agency is assessing alignments and station locational options; DTPW said it will coordinate with the city of Miami Beach where appropriate and that a value‑engineering exercise is planned on the trunk line across Biscayne Bay to reduce constructability impacts.

Flagler demonstration and feasibility: FDOT reported it completed a capacity analysis for the originally conceived bus‑repurposing demonstration on Flagler Street and found substantial PM‑peak congestion in the corridor and adjacent streets. FDOT said a demonstration that repurposed a travel lane for a business‑access transit lane would increase travel times in the PM peak — field‑recorded travel time for the segment was shown as roughly nine minutes versus a modelled 30 minutes under the repurposing scenario during the worst hour — and that the surrounding network lacks spare capacity to absorb diverted traffic without mitigation. Based on those results, FDOT recommended cancelling the earlier lane‑repurposing demonstration project and instead is undertaking a Flagler feasibility study that will evaluate elevated fixed‑guideway options linking Downtown Miami to FIU; FDOT issued a procurement notice and issued a notice to proceed to a consultant in February 2025.

East–West corridor study (DTPW): DTPW explained it will evaluate options for East–West travel and is initiating a feasibility study that will examine use of CSX right‑of‑way north of the 836 and coordinate with FDOT’s parallel analyses; a contract is being secured and a draft scope will be scheduled for trust review in the coming months.

Trust members asked about station design, transit‑oriented development opportunities at Northeast corridor platforms, bicycle and pedestrian access, and the schedule and funding implications if state budget actions affect state matching funds; FDOT and DTPW acknowledged those are outstanding items and said they will return with additional details as studies advance.

Provenance: DTPW and FDOT corridor updates and the Flagler capacity analysis were presented during the Smart Plan updates portion of the June 25 meeting.