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Port Miami Tunnel
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Port Miami Tunnel
The Port of Miami Tunnel (State Road 887) is a 4,200-foot (1,300 m) bored, undersea tunnel in Miami, Florida. It consists of two parallel tunnels (one in each direction) that travel beneath Biscayne Bay, connecting the MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island with PortMiami on Dodge Island. It was built in a public–private partnership between three government entities—the Florida Department of Transportation, Miami-Dade County, and the City of Miami—and the private entity MAT Concessionaire LLC, which was in charge of designing, building, and financing the project and holds a 30-year concession to operate the tunnel.
The project was approved after decades of planning and discussion in December 2007, but was temporarily cancelled a year later. Construction began in May 2010. The tunnel boring machine began work in November 2011 and completed the second tunnel in May 2013. The tunnel was opened to traffic on August 3, 2014. In the first month after opening, the tunnel averaged 7,000 vehicles per day traveling to the port on a typical weekday.
The idea of a tunnel connecting the Port of Miami to Watson Island was first conceived in the 1980s to reduce traffic congestion in downtown Miami. Prior to the tunnel's opening, the only route for PortMiami traffic was a two-lane drawbridge that emptied into downtown Miami streets. Heavy traffic was considered detrimental to downtown's economic growth, and a planned port expansion threatened to increase the volume of trucks passing through. These problems were alleviated, but not solved, by the construction of a six-lane elevated bridge in the early 1990s. The issues would be remedied by the construction of the tunnel, allowing traffic to move between PortMiami and the MacArthur Causeway (which connects to Interstate 95 via I-395) without traveling through downtown.
Federal funding for a preliminary study into the tunnel proposal was included in the controversial 1987 highway bill, which was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan, who complained that the bill was a "pork-barrel" project. Although the veto was overridden, the tunnel proposal fell by the wayside. It was not until 2006 that the tender for the tunnel project was ready to be launched, and in December 2007 the project was approved by the City Commission. However, the economic crisis resulted in a cancellation of the project in December 2008 by one of the sponsors, Babcock & Brown, and the State of Florida. Despite this, in April 2009, following intense lobbying by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, to avoid a new tender that would delay even further the start of construction, the project was reinstated. Port director Bill Johnson has also played a key role in supporting the Port of Miami infrastructure projects, as well as developing a free-trade pact with Colombia. The port infrastructure projects had an estimated cost of around $2 billion.
Prior to 2008, the project had been estimated at a total cost of $3.1 billion, however the revised project has an estimated cost of $1 billion (The difference in estimates partially due to differences in previous tunnel designs). Financial closing on the project was reached in October 2009. Miami-Dade County was reported to have contributed $402 million, the city of Miami $50 million, and the state $650 million to build, operate and maintain it. Those contributions are spread during the construction and operation of the tunnel project. During construction, 90% of the funds are provided by the private sector. Of the estimated $1 billion total project cost, $607 million would go to design and construction, $195.1 million to financing, $59.6 million to insurance and maintenance during construction, $41.2 million to reserves, and $209.8 million for state development cost.
The Port of Miami Tunnel project involved the design and widening of the MacArthur Causeway by one lane in each direction leading up to the tunnel entrance, the relocation of Parrot Jungle Trail, and the reconstruction of roadways on Dodge Island. The tunnel itself has two side-by-side tubes carrying traffic underneath the cruise ship channel of the Government Cut shipping lane. Jacobs Engineering Group was responsible for the design of the roadways, Langan Engineering & Environmental Services was the geotechnical engineer, and Bouygues was the prime contractor for the tunnel project itself. Chosen due to their key involvement in the construction of the Channel Tunnel, a major tunnel in Europe, the selection of Bouygues was also met with controversy and protested by the Cuban exile community in Miami, due to the company's involvement with locally opposed construction projects in Cuba.
The project connects the east/west Interstate 395 (I-395)/State Road 836, which terminates into State Route A1A at the Miami city limit on the MacArthur Causeway, as well as Interstate 95, directly to PortMiami. The port was previously only connected to the mainland by Port Boulevard, which is accessed by crossing U.S. Route 1 (Biscayne Boulevard) and traveling through downtown. The project also includes roadway improvements to the connection between I-395 and State Road 836, also known as the Dolphin Expressway, at Interstate 95. The tunnel will allow heavy trucks to bypass the congested Downtown Miami area, which is considered to be especially crucial with the large increase in trade traffic expected to be created by the Deep Dredge Project and the enlargement of the Panama Canal. Projected to eventually carry 26,000 vehicles a day under Government Cut through its twin two-lane tunnels, the top of the tunnels lie over 60 feet (18.3 m) below the seabed. The project created nearly 1,000 jobs as of 2011, with 70% reported as local; project executives promised that many of the construction jobs would go to local contractors. Along with the related Deep Dredge and Panama Canal Expansion, over 30,000 jobs are expected to be created in the long run.
Before the completion of the tunnel in 2009, nearly 16,000 vehicles traveled to and from PortMiami through downtown streets each weekday. 28% of the traffic consisted of trucks.[verification needed] In 2010, it was estimated that around 19,000 vehicles traveled to the port daily, with trucks accounting for 16% of the traffic. Existing truck and bus routes restricted the port's ability to grow, driving up costs for port users and presenting safety hazards. They were also thought to congest and limit redevelopment of Miami's Central Business District in the northern portion.
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Port Miami Tunnel
The Port of Miami Tunnel (State Road 887) is a 4,200-foot (1,300 m) bored, undersea tunnel in Miami, Florida. It consists of two parallel tunnels (one in each direction) that travel beneath Biscayne Bay, connecting the MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island with PortMiami on Dodge Island. It was built in a public–private partnership between three government entities—the Florida Department of Transportation, Miami-Dade County, and the City of Miami—and the private entity MAT Concessionaire LLC, which was in charge of designing, building, and financing the project and holds a 30-year concession to operate the tunnel.
The project was approved after decades of planning and discussion in December 2007, but was temporarily cancelled a year later. Construction began in May 2010. The tunnel boring machine began work in November 2011 and completed the second tunnel in May 2013. The tunnel was opened to traffic on August 3, 2014. In the first month after opening, the tunnel averaged 7,000 vehicles per day traveling to the port on a typical weekday.
The idea of a tunnel connecting the Port of Miami to Watson Island was first conceived in the 1980s to reduce traffic congestion in downtown Miami. Prior to the tunnel's opening, the only route for PortMiami traffic was a two-lane drawbridge that emptied into downtown Miami streets. Heavy traffic was considered detrimental to downtown's economic growth, and a planned port expansion threatened to increase the volume of trucks passing through. These problems were alleviated, but not solved, by the construction of a six-lane elevated bridge in the early 1990s. The issues would be remedied by the construction of the tunnel, allowing traffic to move between PortMiami and the MacArthur Causeway (which connects to Interstate 95 via I-395) without traveling through downtown.
Federal funding for a preliminary study into the tunnel proposal was included in the controversial 1987 highway bill, which was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan, who complained that the bill was a "pork-barrel" project. Although the veto was overridden, the tunnel proposal fell by the wayside. It was not until 2006 that the tender for the tunnel project was ready to be launched, and in December 2007 the project was approved by the City Commission. However, the economic crisis resulted in a cancellation of the project in December 2008 by one of the sponsors, Babcock & Brown, and the State of Florida. Despite this, in April 2009, following intense lobbying by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, to avoid a new tender that would delay even further the start of construction, the project was reinstated. Port director Bill Johnson has also played a key role in supporting the Port of Miami infrastructure projects, as well as developing a free-trade pact with Colombia. The port infrastructure projects had an estimated cost of around $2 billion.
Prior to 2008, the project had been estimated at a total cost of $3.1 billion, however the revised project has an estimated cost of $1 billion (The difference in estimates partially due to differences in previous tunnel designs). Financial closing on the project was reached in October 2009. Miami-Dade County was reported to have contributed $402 million, the city of Miami $50 million, and the state $650 million to build, operate and maintain it. Those contributions are spread during the construction and operation of the tunnel project. During construction, 90% of the funds are provided by the private sector. Of the estimated $1 billion total project cost, $607 million would go to design and construction, $195.1 million to financing, $59.6 million to insurance and maintenance during construction, $41.2 million to reserves, and $209.8 million for state development cost.
The Port of Miami Tunnel project involved the design and widening of the MacArthur Causeway by one lane in each direction leading up to the tunnel entrance, the relocation of Parrot Jungle Trail, and the reconstruction of roadways on Dodge Island. The tunnel itself has two side-by-side tubes carrying traffic underneath the cruise ship channel of the Government Cut shipping lane. Jacobs Engineering Group was responsible for the design of the roadways, Langan Engineering & Environmental Services was the geotechnical engineer, and Bouygues was the prime contractor for the tunnel project itself. Chosen due to their key involvement in the construction of the Channel Tunnel, a major tunnel in Europe, the selection of Bouygues was also met with controversy and protested by the Cuban exile community in Miami, due to the company's involvement with locally opposed construction projects in Cuba.
The project connects the east/west Interstate 395 (I-395)/State Road 836, which terminates into State Route A1A at the Miami city limit on the MacArthur Causeway, as well as Interstate 95, directly to PortMiami. The port was previously only connected to the mainland by Port Boulevard, which is accessed by crossing U.S. Route 1 (Biscayne Boulevard) and traveling through downtown. The project also includes roadway improvements to the connection between I-395 and State Road 836, also known as the Dolphin Expressway, at Interstate 95. The tunnel will allow heavy trucks to bypass the congested Downtown Miami area, which is considered to be especially crucial with the large increase in trade traffic expected to be created by the Deep Dredge Project and the enlargement of the Panama Canal. Projected to eventually carry 26,000 vehicles a day under Government Cut through its twin two-lane tunnels, the top of the tunnels lie over 60 feet (18.3 m) below the seabed. The project created nearly 1,000 jobs as of 2011, with 70% reported as local; project executives promised that many of the construction jobs would go to local contractors. Along with the related Deep Dredge and Panama Canal Expansion, over 30,000 jobs are expected to be created in the long run.
Before the completion of the tunnel in 2009, nearly 16,000 vehicles traveled to and from PortMiami through downtown streets each weekday. 28% of the traffic consisted of trucks.[verification needed] In 2010, it was estimated that around 19,000 vehicles traveled to the port daily, with trucks accounting for 16% of the traffic. Existing truck and bus routes restricted the port's ability to grow, driving up costs for port users and presenting safety hazards. They were also thought to congest and limit redevelopment of Miami's Central Business District in the northern portion.
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