Government Center station is an

intermodal transit Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths (and offset the weaknesses) of various transportati ...

hub in the Government Center district of

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. ...

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 ...

. It is operated by

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 ...

and serves as a transfer station for the

Metrorail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...

and

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 neighborho ...

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

systems and as a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

for Metrobus,

Paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

, and

Broward County Transit Broward County Transit (also known as ''BCT'') is the public transit agency in Broward County, Florida. It is the second-largest transit system in Florida after Miami-Dade Transit. It currently operates the only public bus system in Broward Coun ...

buses. The station is located near the intersection of Northwest First Street and First Avenue, a part of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center Building. It opened to service May 20, 1984, next to the site of a former FEC railway station which is now MiamiCentral.

History

Metrorail and Metromover station

Development of the

civic center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

was reinvigorated during the 1970s and early 1980s during a Downtown

building boom Business cycles are intervals of expansion followed by recession in economic activity. These changes have implications for the welfare of the broad population as well as for private institutions. Typically business cycles are measured by examini ...

. The boom spurred the development and construction the

Stephen P. Clark Government Center The Stephen P. Clark Government Center, known also as Government Center, Miami-Dade Center, or County Hall, is a skyscraper in the Government Center district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States. It is the headquarters building of the Miami-D ...

, and the Miami-Dade Cultural Plaza, which currently includes

HistoryMiami HistoryMiami Museum, formerly known as the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, is a museum located in Downtown Miami, Florida, United States. HistoryMiami Museum is the largest history museum in the State of Florida. HistoryMiami houses four per ...

and the

Miami-Dade Public Library System The Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) is a system of libraries in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Governance The Miami-Dade Public Library System is a county department within Miami-Dade county government. The Board of County Commissione ...

Main Library. Construction on the present-day Government Center station began in June

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

. The station was primarily designed by the

Cambridge Seven Associates Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. (stylized as CambridgeSeven, and sometimes as C7A) is an American architecture firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Buildings designed by the firm have included academic, museum, exhibit, hospitality, transpo ...

in collaboration with Edward D. Stone. The station was built by the Frank J. Rooney Construction Company. Metrorail service, between Overtown and Kendall, following the precise route of the FEC, commenced service May 1984. An unused, partially completed ghost platform for a future East-West Metrorail line is adjacent to the west side of the

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

level below the current Metrorail station and is easily visible to passengers transferring from Metromover to Metrorail. This platform was part of the original design concept which interfaced with the

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

of the Miami-Dade County Administration Building, and the people mover station.

Florida East Coast Railroad station

Next to Government Center station is the former site of a railroad station developed in April 1896 as the southern

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder ...

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a p ...

(FEC). The downtown passenger terminal was demolished by November 1963. The FEC still owns the old station site, which was occupied by parking lots until 2014. It is now MiamiCentral, an intermodal transit hub. It has been served by

Brightline Brightline (reporting mark BLFX) is an inter-city rail route between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida that runs on track owned by Florida East Coast Railway. Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad ...

higher-speed inter-city trains since

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, and is planned to be served by Tri-Rail commuter trains starting in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. Government Center station is directly connected to MiamiCentral via a pedestrian bridge over NW 3rd Street.

Station layout

The second floor of the complex includes the main fare control for Metrorail and platforms for the Metromover loops, as well as the Metrofare Shops area. The third floor of the complex is a mezzanine for transfers between the two services. A ghost platform for a never-built east-west Metrorail line is located on this level. The fourth floor of the complex is the Metrorail platform. It is the highest transit platform of the Miami-Dade Transit system in height and can hold up to eight Metrorail cars.

Places of interest

**Neighborhoods:

Arts & Entertainment District The Arts & Entertainment District, or previously known as Omni, is a neighborhood of Downtown Miami, Florida. It is bound roughly by North 19th Street to the north, North 10th Street to the south, North East 2nd Avenue to the west, and Biscayne Bo ...

, Park West, and Miami Jewelry District *

Miami Art Museum Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

Historical Museum of Southern Florida HistoryMiami Museum, formerly known as the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, is a museum located in Downtown Miami, Florida, United States. HistoryMiami Museum is the largest history museum in the State of Florida. HistoryMiami houses four per ...

* Miami Main Library *

Miami-Dade County Courthouse The Miami-Dade County Courthouse, formerly known as the Dade County Courthouse, is a historic courthouse and skyscraper located at 73 West Flagler Street in Miami, Florida. Constructed over four years (1925–28), it was added to the U.S. Nati ...

* Museum Tower * Courthouse Center *U.S. Courthouse Building * Freedom Tower * The Congress Building *Downtown Omni Bus Terminal *

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture f ...

Bayside Marketplace Bayside Marketplace is a two-story open air shopping center located in the downtown Miami, Florida. The banks of Biscayne Bay wrap around the property with the City of Miami marina at its side. It is recognized by the Greater Miami Convention & V ...

Flagler Street Flagler Street is a main east–west road in Miami. Flagler Street is the latitudinal baseline that divides all the streets on the Miami-Dade County grid plan as north or south streets (the east-west division is along Miami Avenue). Flag ...

Bayfront Park Bayfront Park is a public, urban park in Downtown Miami, Florida on Biscayne Bay. The Chairman to the trust is Ary Shaeban. Located in the park is a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus sculpted by Count Vittorio di Colbertaldo of Verona, ...

* Museum Park *

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts The Arsht Center is a performing arts center located in Miami, Florida. It is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The center was partly built on the site of a former Sears department store; an Art Deco building cons ...

New World School of the Arts New World School of the Arts (NWSA) is a public magnet high school and college in Downtown Miami, Florida. Its dual-enrollment programs in the visual and performing arts are organized into four strands: visual arts, dance, theatre (comprising prog ...

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College S ...

Wolfson Campus Miami Dade College (Wolfson Campus) is one of Miami Dade College’s eight campuses. The campus was opened in 1970, holding classes in storefronts in Downtown Miami, Florida. As the only comprehensive urban campus in the City of Miami, Wolfson Ca ...

* Olympia Theater *

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 ...

and

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 ...

(via lettered Metrobus routes)

Transit connections

Metrobus

BCT

Gallery

Transit at Government Center.jpg, Three modes of transit operating simultaneously at Government Center during

afternoon Afternoon is the time after solar noon. It is the time when the sun is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the horizon in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the standard work a ...

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: o ...

Image:Government Center Metromover station.jpg, The Government Center

transfer station File:Train at Government Center Lower Platform, Miami.jpg, A Metromover train is approaching Government Center station Image:Government Center rush hour.png, Passengers exit a northbound Metrorail train during

File:Government Center MDT Station @ U.S. Court House-Miami, Florida.jpg, Platforms overlooking the contemporary US Courthouse building. File:Platform at Government Center, Miami.jpg, The ghost platform that is on the mezzanine level File:Government Center ghost platform.jpg, A closer view of the ghost platform File:Government Center Metrorail Station, Mezzanine Level, Miami.jpg, A Metrorail sign in the plaza Image:GovernmentCtr1930s.jpg, View toward the southeast of the city center, with the FEC

passenger trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

and the Dade County Courthouse foreground, circa 1930s File:Miami Critical Mass at Government Center.jpg,

Critical Mass In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fi ...

Miami assembling at Government Center

References

External links

MDT – Metrorail Stations

MDT – Metromover Stations

1st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{Greater Miami Metromover stations Metrorail (Miami-Dade County) stations in Miami Railway stations in the United States opened in 1984 Bus stations in Florida 1984 establishments in Florida Brickell Loop Inner Loop Omni Loop Green Line (Metrorail) Orange Line (Metrorail)