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.
Cars Retake Their Place on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach
Ocean Drive in South Beach is the site of an ongoing pilot project in making space for pedestrians and businesses in space previously devoted to cars. Advocates and some local politicians don't like the direction that the experiment is headed.
Preservation Wars Heat Up in South Beach
Decades after preservationists helped usher in one of the country’s most successful urban revivals by protecting South Beach's Art Deco buildings, Miami Beach commissioners are considering whether to strengthen laws protecting residential properties.
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.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions