With exorbitant insurance prices, long commutes and slow rush hour speeds, Miami ranks as the second-worst U.S. city to drive in, according to a 2024 list evaluating heavy traffic congestion, accidents and gas costs within the country鈥檚 most populated cities.
Voters must decide in the Aug. 20 primary election whether Miami-Dade County needs to expand its existing rapid mass transit system, which includes the Metrorail, passenger rail and Metromover.
Miami-Dade County leaders, who say rapid transit is the answer to Miami鈥檚 severe congestion problem, encourage residents to vote 鈥榊es鈥� on the championed by Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners (BCC) Chairman Oliver Gilbert, III.
Gilbert told The Miami Times his intention in putting this simple question on the ballot is to start a conversation about where the county鈥檚 rapid transit system stands and what needs to be done to address congestion.
鈥淲orkers across the county should not be forced to sit in traffic for hours, spending thousands of dollars on gas just to travel to and from work,鈥� said Gilbert in an op-ed published in Miami鈥檚 Community News. 鈥淓xpanding our rapid mass transit system will enable more residents to reach job centers and educational institutions.鈥�
READ MORE: Brightline brings more passengers not profits, while push continues for commuter rail
According to Forbes, Miami drivers have the seventh longest average commute at 33 minutes and 10 seconds, an average rush-hour traffic speed at 25 mph and spend about 105 hours per year in traffic. An INRIX study says congestion cost Miami drivers an estimated $1,773 in lost time in 2022, not including fuel costs.
鈥淚鈥檓 very supportive about having the residents of Miami-Dade County weighing in through this ballot initiative,鈥� said District 5 County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who co-sponsored the referendum. 鈥淲e continue to grow and our congestion has, in my mind, gotten to the point of almost being intolerable. The only solution to this is to build mass transit and to expand our transit system to go more places. The one we have is pretty good but it doesn鈥檛 go everywhere we鈥檇 like it to go.鈥�
The county鈥檚 transit system includes 27.5 million miles of Metrobus service along 94 routes, a 25-mile dual elevated Metrorail track, a 20-mile South Dade Transitway line, and a 4.4-mile dual elevated Metromover track.
鈥淎 lot of the systems in other cities, there鈥檚 signs of continuous improvements,鈥� said Alice Bravo, the county鈥檚 former director of transportation and public works and former transportation director at Florida Department of Transportation. 鈥淚f you look at Washington D.C. and the history of the network there, there was an initial line then there was a second line, then they come back and added extensions. There鈥檚 continuous improvements, where you鈥檙e expanding it every few years, sometimes in phases.鈥�
While the Metrobus serves as the backbone of the county鈥檚 transit system, transportation advocates say there are more effective ways to get residents to their destinations faster.
鈥淭he issue with buses is unless they鈥檙e in a dedicated lane, the buses are in traffic so congestion impacts the reliability of the bus routes,鈥� said Bravo.
鈥淚 have two kinds of residents, the ones in Miami Beach, Brickell and Downtown who are choosing to be car free 鈥� and we have a lot of low-income people who are completely transit-dependent,鈥� said Higgins, whose district contains the highest percentage of zero-vehicle households. 鈥淚鈥檓 lucky enough to represent a district that actually has pretty good transit connectivity, particularly on the city of Miami side, but if you want to go further afield, if I wanted to go up and take a class at Miami Dade College North Campus on 27th Ave, it is a slow ride on a bus versus 10 or 15 minutes on Metrorail, which makes a big, big difference.鈥�
The county鈥檚 Metrobus system received a 鈥淒鈥� on Transit Alliance Miami鈥檚 2023 mobility scorecard analyzing county and municipal mobility and transportation options, revealing that buses with dedicated road and highway lanes were significantly faster than other routes. The Metrorail received a 鈥淐,鈥� Metromover 鈥淏,鈥� and the Trolley system an 鈥淔.鈥�
A 鈥榊es鈥� vote would only confirm what BCC already knows to be true: that the county needs to expand rapid mass transit.
鈥淚t sends a clear message and gives us a clear direction on what people want us to do and it will give us our marching orders,鈥� said Higgins. 鈥淚n putting this on the ballot, what Chairman Gilbert and I 鈥� and the chairman is really leading the charge on this 鈥� are doing is telling people we have to have your support to be able to spend money to build transit. We need the people鈥檚 permission to do things differently.鈥�
But expansion and construction costs remain a question.
Funding rapid transit expansion
鈥淭he federal government provides a very dedicated and reliable funding source for roads and bridges, but when you come down to public transportation, that funding source is not nearly as large as a community like ours would need it to be,鈥� said Higgins. 鈥淭ransit systems are like parks. They鈥檙e public goods so they don鈥檛 pay for themselves ... We really want to be able to say to the residents with confidence that if you support us in doing this, we will find the money to make sure we do expand transit. We want to be a community that people think about with mass transit options rather than a community that鈥檚 known for its terrible traffic jams.鈥�
Miami voters nearly 23 years ago approved the People鈥檚 Transportation Plan, now called the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit Plan (SMART), allowing revenue collected from the half-penny surtax to fund mass transit expansion in Miami-Dade County.
According to Transit Alliance鈥檚 2023 State of Transit report, a 2-mile Metrorail extension to Miami International Airport is the only one of six proposed expansions to be completed since the approval of the half-penny tax.
Transit projects in the south, northeast and north corridors that will increase commuter access to places like Aventura and Miami Garden鈥檚 Hard Rock Stadium have already been approved by the county.
鈥淭he interesting thing about transportation is that most of the initiatives are several years in the making, then another several years for implementation,鈥� said Bravo. 鈥淚 think the referendum is very helpful in terms of continuing on with the programs that have started. The SMART Plan, which is now the SMART program, was approved and created in 2016, I believe. That requires studies, then the next phase of implementing is applying for federal funding, then you have to make sure you have the matching funds in place.鈥�
鈥淚f you鈥檙e always looking at the past, you never see the future,鈥� said Higgins. 鈥淚 have an item on the July 16 agenda, which is called the Transportation Infrastructure Investment District 鈥� a different kind of tax increment financing that says we would take a portion of that revenue that鈥檚 generated and we鈥檇 spend it back on transit. We鈥檙e looking at all kinds of things but half a penny cannot pay for what we need. It doesn鈥檛 even cover the operations of the things they voted for.鈥�
鈥淲hen you build new houses and new condominiums, there鈥檚 water and sewer and you don鈥檛 hear a lot of discussion about what the water and sewer costs,鈥� Bravo added. 鈥淚t gets implemented as it's needed to support the development. Yet with transportation infrastructure projects, there鈥檚 a lot of debate about the cost and how to pay for it and somehow it falls behind. It鈥檚 important to move it forward because as time moves on, the cost of everything goes up.鈥�
This story was produced by The Miami Times, one of the oldest Black-owned newspapers in the country, as part of a content sharing partnership with the 港澳天下彩newsroom. Read more at .
