A plan to move forward with a streetcar line in Miami Beach will have to wait while the county plans a route across the Biscayne Bay.
"Miami Beach commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to temporarily stop the fast-tracked light rail project that would lay down tracks on South Beach’s streets," reports Joey Flechas.
"The light rail or 'modern streetcar' line…is now on hold after commissioners agreed to wait for Miami-Dade County commissioners to make a binding commitment to building a connection across Biscayne Bay, including a funding plan," adds Flechas.
The current push to build a “modern streetcar,” billed as one third of a future light rail connection to Downtown Miami and commonly known as “Bay Link,” began last year when a consortium of firms including French rail company Alstom submitted an unsolicited proposal to jump-start a long-discussed but never-realized rail connection across Biscayne Bay.
Flechas has been documenting the political process surrounding the proposed $244 South Beach streetcar project since November, when critics of the proposal started raising concerns about the pace of the planning process and lost capacity for automobiles, in addition to the concerns about the connection to the larger Bay Link project.
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Mass Transit and Manure: New York’s Lost Era of Horse-Drawn Streetcars
For all the problems we have with today's mass transit system, at least we no longer have to deal with the smell and literal waste of the modern bus and light rail systems' predecessors: horse-drawn streetcars.
Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
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Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
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