Miami — Streetcar Recommended

Rail Transit Online, August 2003

“The best fit for Miami Beach is the street-running streetcar.”  That finding by consultant Charles Hales of HDR Engineering was presented to a special meeting of Miami Beach commissioners on July 10.  The commission hired HDR to made a recommendation after the Metropolitan Planning Organization asked Miami Beach to participate in BayLink, a proposed $400-million, five-mile (8 km) light rail project linking downtown Miami across the MacArthur Causeway with South Beach (see RTOL, July 2003).  The concept recommended by Hales is smaller in scope than BayLink and would utilize streetcars similar to those operating in downtown Portland, a project that Hales was deeply involved with when he was a city commissioner there.  '”We felt light rail was oversized,” said Hales, adding that streetcars would be cheaper and quicker to build and would fit into the “…environment of the city.”  Although city officials in Miami are on record as supporting light rail, the mayor of Miami Beach and other civic leaders had opposed BayLink as potentially too disruptive and had asked for a study of alternatives, including some type of enhanced bus service.  The Miami Beach commissioners are scheduled to meet Sept. 8 to discuss the consultant report and possibly decide which option to support.