BayLink is a long proposed transit connection between

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Proposals have ranged from streetcar, light rail, monorail,

Metromover Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. M ...

, or Metrorail extension that would connect

Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...

via the

MacArthur Causeway The General Douglas MacArthur Causeway is a six-lane causeway that connects Downtown Miami to South Beach via Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County. The highway is the singular roadway connecting the mainland and beaches to Watson Island and the ba ...

, with the light rail or streetcar options potentially having loops at both ends. In 2020 the project was approved by commissioners as Miami Beach Monorail, a $770 million public private partnership project (costing $1.8 billion over 30 years to the public) connecting 5th Street in South Beach to Metromover on the mainland at the Genting property in Omni.

History

Originally proposed as an elevated light rail line such as a monorail, Miami Beach city officials opposed this in favor of something less intrusive, such as a streetcar. Historically, Miami Beach has also cited concerns of unwanted downtown residents as a detriment to the South Beach image. Additionally, the unused parts of the bases of the

bridge pilings that were to be used to support the line have been used for the widening of the causeway for the construction of the

Port Miami Tunnel The Port of Miami Tunnel (also State Road 887) is a bored, undersea tunnel in Miami, Florida. It consists of two parallel tunnels (one in each direction) that travel beneath Biscayne Bay, connecting the MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island wi ...

, complicating a fully separated right of way. Officials still thought it was feasible as a light rail streetcar, and in 2014 were considering the possibility of a public-private partnership to help fund it. In 2015, the cities of Miami and Miami Beach decided to break the estimated $532 million system into three pieces; two compatible light rail loops in Downtown Miami and South Beach to later be connected via MacArthur Causeway. This was motivated by the lengthy federal studies required for a larger project. French transport vehicle manufacturer

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

gave an unsolicited proposal to build the Miami Beach portion of the system for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

148 million as a wireless streetcar system from 5th Street to Dade Boulevard via

Washington Avenue Washington Avenue may refer to: United States * Washington Avenue (Miami Beach) in Miami Beach, Florida * Washington Avenue (Milford Mill, Maryland) * Washington Avenue (Towson, Maryland) * Washington Avenue (Minneapolis), a major street in Minne ...

. Alstom predicts over 20,000 riders a day just on the eight to ten stations that would be on the Miami Beach segment. In 2019 and 2020, resort company

Genting Group The Genting Group is a company headquartered in the Wisma Genting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It comprises the holding company Genting Berhad (), its listed subsidiaries Genting Malaysia Berhad (), Genting Plantations Berhad (), Genting Singapore ...

proposed a monorail BayLink system that would connect to a new

station located at their proposed

Resorts World Miami Resorts World Miami is the name of a major development proposed for the Omni District of Greater Downtown Miami, Florida, USA, by the Malaysian-based Genting Group. At and with an estimated cost of US$3.2 billion, it is considered one of the la ...

Casino project in the Omni area. A rail connection to Miami Beach has long been desired due to its high ridership potential and lack of parking, automobile traffic, and other issues on the beach.

Miami-Dade Transit Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) is the primary public transit authority of Miami, Florida and the greater Miami-Dade County area. It is the largest transit system in Florida and the 15th-largest transit system in the United States. As of , the system ...

's S bus route connecting downtown Miami to

Collins Avenue Collins Avenue, partly co-signed State Road A1A, is a major thoroughfare in South Florida, United States. The road runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean in Miami Beach, Florida, one block west. It also runs through the cities of Surfside and S ...

is generally the highest ridership route in the Metrobus system. Additionally, there are several other bus routes connecting the two cities which also have high ridership. In 2012, a Metrorail spur connected Downtown Miami to

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...

but without any plan to extend it to the beach.

References

Proposed transportation infrastructure in the United States Transportation in Miami Transportation in Miami Beach, Florida Transportation in Miami-Dade County, Florida {{Florida-transport-stub

History

See also

References