LTC 109-2005 Status of Bay Link Project
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 109-2005
m
To:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Date: April 28, 2005
From:
Jorge M. Gonzale-a
City Manager ." -J'- 0-
STATUS OF B LINK PROJECT
Subject:
The purpose of the LTC is to provide you the latest status update on the Bay Link Project:
On January 27, 2005, the Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization Governing
Board (MPO Board) did not accommodate the City of Miami Beach's request to re-rank the
Bay Link Project from a Priority III to Priority I for funding and construction. As a result, the
following have taken place:
o The Bay Link Project remained listed as Priority III in the Miami-Dade 2030 Long
Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), for construction in 2016-2020;
o The Bay Link Project was not submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
for consideration as a "New Start" project;
o The MPO Board refused to allocate 2005 funds to conduct the PElFEIS phase of
Bay Link, as too premature; and
o The consulting contract between the MPO and Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade &
Douglas was not renewed.
During the same meeting, the MPO Board approved the Pro Forma which re-affirmed and
supported the following mass transit segments as Priority I projects:
1. The Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) to Earlinaton Heiahts Connection: This 2.6 mile
heavy rail project, which will connect the airport to Downtown Miami, is locally
funded and its final design phase is anticipated to begin in April 2005;
2. The North Corridor: This 9.5-mile heavy rail project will begin at NW 2ih Avenue
(MLK Metrorail Station) and end at the Broward County corporate limits. The North
Corridor Project was previously submitted for FTA consideration as a New Start
project, but was "Not Rated" by FTA due to serious concerns regarding the project's
justification criteria and cost effectiveness. Nevertheless, the North Corridor
advocates continued to lobby for the project, and a revised version of the Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is scheduled for submission to FTA by
Letter to Commission
April 22, 2005
Page 2
June-July 2005. A Record of Decision from FTA is anticipated before the end of
2005;
3. The MIC-FIU seament of the East-West Corridor: This 1 0.1-mile heavy rail project
will connect the MIC to the Florida International University (FlU) and the Florida
Turnpike. Its PE/FEIS phase began on January 18, 2005.
For planning purposes, the following opportunities to resubmit the City's request to the
MPO Board for reprioritization of the Bay Link Project may materialize in the future, if:
o The North Corridor FEIS is not well received by FTA and remains as a "Not Rated"
New Start project;
o The City of Miami, which is moving forward to implement its Downtown Streetcar
project (utilizing City of Miami funds), requests that Miami Beach submit to the MPO
its official request for the re-ranking of the Bay Link connection to Downtown Miami;
o A Bay Link re-ranking request is submitted during the regular update process of the
Miami-Dade LRTP, which is due to resume three to five years from now. The exact
update year will be determined by the upcoming Federal Transportation Bill.
The proposed South Florida East Coast (SFEC) Corridor Project, utilizing the existing 85-
mile FEC rail corridor from Downtown Miami to Jupiter, has gained momentum in South
Florida and may directly affect existing local rail project priorities. The required preliminary
study for this tri-county project, known as "SFEC Corridor Transit Analysis Study," is
estimated to cost $6 million, or $2 million per county. The MPO Governing Boards of
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach have recently approved their respective $2 million
shares of Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CM) funds required for the study to
proceed. The Transit Analysis Study will be performed by Gannett Fleming under FOOT
District 4 (Broward-Palm Beach) management, and is scheduled to begin in late May 2005.
The SFEC Corridor Project has been heavily promoted by key officials in Miami, Broward
and Palm Beach Counties, and will ultimately compete for the same limited pot of federal,
state, and local transportation funds.
Plea~scont pt ::'yif you have any concerns or questions.
JMG\ /({r{:v/aj
c: Ro ert Middaugh. Assistant City Manager
Tim Hemstreet, Acting Assistant City Manager
Fred Beckmann, Director of Public Works
Fernando Vazquez, City Engineer
Jorge Gomez, Director of Planning
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