THE UNDERLINE: A TRUE MOBILITY CORRIDOR IN THE MAKING

Imagine a 10-mile-long walking and cycling trail lined with lush tropical vegetation and dotted with butterfly gardens, playgrounds and picnic areas – all in the shadow of the Metrorail.

That vision is becoming a reality, and it's called The Underline.

The Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works recently began construction of the first of eight phases of The Underline – the Brickell Backyard. The entire corridor will eventually stretch all the way south to Dadeland, transforming 120 acres of Miami-Dade County–owned land beneath the existing Metrorail guideway into a world-class multimodal urban trail.

It all started about five years ago when a group of neighborhood activists led by Friends of the Underline President/CEO Meg Daly came up with the idea of turning the underutilized land below Metrorail into a walkable and bikeable linear park that would connect neighborhoods and create an attractive green space where residents could congregate and recreate.

The group presented their idea to officials from Miami to Tallahassee, seeking government backing for the project. Their hard work resulted in a financial commitment of $90 million, so far, from Miami-Dade County, the city of Miami, Coral Gables and the state of Florida, including money from road and park impact fees paid by developers and state funds earmarked for trail construction, and in November 2019, the project received an additional $22 million BUILD grant from the federal government.

Even though the project's completion is still years away, the Underline is already being hailed as Miami-Dade County's first true mobility corridor, uniting all modes of transportation and enhancing accessibility to eight Metrorail stations within its path, which is expected to increase transit ridership. Varying from 70 to 170 feet wide, the trail also will include lighting and wayfinding and a host of amenities at various points along the path, including playgrounds, exercise equipment, a flexible basketball and mini-soccer court and more.

Brickell Backyard, the project's first segment, will extend from the Miami River to Simpson Park seven blocks south and is expected to be completed in summer 2020. It will feature a dog park, a basketball/volleyball court, workout stations, a three-block promenade with a performance stage, and butterfly gardens set around rock outcroppings. Further south in Coral Gables, the Underline will include a dog park and a possible staging area for food trucks.

Project supporters and Miami-Dade officials see the Underline as a major asset which will improve pedestrian and cyclist safety while serving as a tourist draw and a catalyst for economic development along the corridor as new restaurants and businesses seek to cater to Underline users. And eventually, the Underline will connect to the Ludlam Trail, a similar planned six-mile green trail from Dadeland Mall to just south of Miami International Airport, following the County's purchase in 2018 of the land for the Ludlam Trail.

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