Miami-Dade County mayor has requested the Board of County Commissioners (the Board) the authorisation to advertise the Request for Proposal to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a Rapid Mass transit Solution on the Beach Corridor Trunk Line that will connect the Downtown Miami/Overtown (Mainland) area to South Beach (Miami Beach). The RFP will bring the county close to the needed efficient and reliable mass transportation connection between Downtown Miami and Miami Beach.

Earlier this year, in May, the county has received an unsolicited proposal from the Miami Beach Monorail Consortium to DBFOM the abovementioned project. The county has evaluated the proposal and determined that it was financially viable and offered a transportation solution that is consistent with the county´s SMART Plan (strategic Miami area rapid transit plan). The Board has authorised the preparation of a competitive solicitation that needs to be approved before advertisement.

The SMART Plan is a comprehensive program which advances six rapid transit corridors to the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study phase to determine the costs and potential sources of funding for the projects. The Beach Corridor Trunk Line is the primary east-west portion of the Beach Corridor, a key segment of the SMART Plan.

The project contemplates the delivery of a Downtown Miami/Overtown Multimodal Hub/Transit Station, a City of Miami Beach Multimodal Hub/Transit Station, and a minimum of one maintenance facility to service transit vehicles to be delivered by the Concessionaire. The project also requires the private partner to establish an alignment that will accommodate a future station on Watson Island.

Rapid transit technology options include monorail, automated people mover (an elevated rapid transit system), or a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which would require a dedicated lane of traffic on the McArthur Causeway. The project is open to these or other technologies that may meet the project purpose.

The draft RFP indicates the concession period of 30 years and two 10-year options to renew the agreement.

It is expected that the RFP will be advertised soon after it is finalized.