How Miami Lost Its Way to a Transit-Rich Future

Forty years ago, Dade County officials sketched a vision for a paradigm shift away from highways and towards a multi-modal transportation system for the area. Four decades onward, highway expansion is alive and well in Miami-Dade. What happened?

1 minute read

May 20, 2013, 7:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Miami Highway

Jimmy Baikovicius / flickr

Matthew Toro traces the past 40 years of transportation history in Miami-Dade County, noting how a progressive vision for "a true multi-modal transportation system in Dade County" outlined in 1973 became more than half a billion allocated to "a highway expansion mega-project" today, and more being proposed. 

"After decades of false starts, broken promises, gross mismanagement of public funds, and outright political apathy, the time is now to regain the vision put forth four decades ago," asserts Toro. "The time is now to withdraw ourselves from our toxic addiction to the 20th century model of single-occupancy vehicles congested on highways. We must stop supporting those who seek to destroy our collective public spaces for personal gain through the incessant construction of highways."

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 in TransitMiami

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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