Artist’s Rendering
“Miami’s newest infrastructure project happened after Meg Daly broke both her arms.
‘I couldn’t do anything for myself for a while,’ Daly says. After three weeks of getting driven to physical therapy, she decided to hop on Miami’s Metrorail, a mostly elevated rail system.
‘I ended up taking the train, getting off and then walking below the train above me,’ Daly says. That’s when she noticed the undeveloped land beneath the train. ‘I was like: Why aren’t we doing something with this land?’
Photo: Meg Daly
So she thought of the idea for the Underline, a 10-mile, 120-acre linear park with a walking and biking path that will be built under the rail tracks. The Underline, plans to connect South Miami, Coral Gables and downtown Miami, follows in the footsteps of projects such as New York City’s High Line and Atlanta’s BeltLine. Daly founded the nonprofit Friends of the Underline in 2015 in order to partner with Miami-Dade County — who owns the land — and secure funds for ongoing operations.
After years of planning and having discussions with the community, the Underline broke ground on Nov. 1, 2018, with the first half-mile segment now under construction. The management, maintenance and programming of the Underline will be run by the Underline Management Organization, a nonprofit represented by Friends of The Underline, Miami-Dade County, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administration and three municipalities…”
— Adina Solomon, Next City