Miami Intermodal Center

Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) is an intermodal rapid transit, commuter rail, local bus, and intercity bus transportation hub in Miami-Dade County, Florida, just outside the Miami city limits near the Grapeland Heights neighborhood. The facility was constructed by the Florida Department of Transportation and is owned by the Greater Miami Expressway Agency.

The MIC is located on Northwest 21st Street near North Douglas Road (West 37th Avenue), east of Le Jeune Road (West 42nd Avenue) and Miami International Airport (MIA), and south of the Miami River and the Airport Expressway (SR 112). It is currently served by Tri-Rail, Metrorail, the MIA Mover, Metrobus and Greyhound Lines. The station portion of the MIC is signed as Miami International Airport on Metrorail and Miami Airport on Tri-Rail.

The MIC's rental car center (RCC) opened on July 13, 2010. The MIA Mover began to operate at the MIC on September 9, 2011, followed by Metrorail on July 28, 2012; Tri-Rail on April 5, 2015; and Greyhound on June 24, 2015. The station was originally designed to accommodate Amtrak. However, the service was initially delayed because the platforms were constructed to insufficient length. Amtrak and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) engaged in years of lease negotiations before the railroad suddenly pulled out of talks in December 2024, saying that operating its trains to the station would be too expensive.

When Amtrak took over intercity passenger service in May 1971, it continued to use the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) station on NW 7th Avenue in Allapattah, two miles north of downtown. The SAL station, built in 1930, was already showing its age. On May 13, 1977, Amtrak began construction of a new station near the SAL's Hialeah Yards. It opened on June 20, 1978.

Southbound Tri-Rail service terminated at the modern-day Hialeah Market upon the line's opening on January 1, 1989. A new Miami Airport station opened in April 1998 at the present site of the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC). The Miami Airport station was the southern terminus of the Tri-Rail system between April 1998 and September 12, 2011, when service was cut back to Hialeah Market for approximately three years to facilitate construction of the new station.

Metrorail opened its first line in 1984 and 1985; due to higher-than-expected costs, other planned lines (including a line to the airport) were not immediately pursued. The Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer Station opened on March 6, 1989, connecting the two lines. The station is several blocks away from the 1978-built Amtrak station, with no direct connection.

In 1989, the Miami International Airport Area Transportation Study recommended the booming Miami metropolitan area invest in an intermodal hub to connect the new rapid transit and commuter rail services to local and intercity bus routes at the airport. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which gave additional powers to regional agencies and emphasized non-auto modes, prompted FDOT to proceed with the proposal.

In mid-1993, FDOT and six United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) subsidiary agencies created the Miami Intermodal Center project, with FDOT as the lead agency. The Major Investment Study/Draft Environmental Impact Statement was approved by the Federal Highway Administration in 1995. Miami-Dade County approved the project and added it to its long-term transportation plan in 1996. The Preliminary Engineering and Final Environmental Impact Statement was submitted in December 1997. A Record of Decision was received from the USDOT on May 5, 1998.