With Miami light rail extension cost nearing $6B, alternative solution found

MIAMI — The Miami Herald reports that bringing light rail to Miami-Dade’s suburbs could top $6 billion, a price tag so high that transportation planners believe it may make more sense to just expand the existing Metrorail system on street-level tracks.

The emerging strategy would revive a core element of the county’s transit plans by pursuing a major expansion of the 1984 Metrorail system in multiple directions. While long considered too costly, expanding Metrorail could be significantly cheaper than the more modern option of light rail once elevated tracks are removed from the equation.

By expanding current rail systems, Miami-Dade could add about 30 miles of track for less than $4 billion, according to the latest estimate provided by the county’s transportation director and the director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization. For the full story, click here.