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Originally Posted by wanderer34
In order to cross Dodge Island, if corse you need a bridge. More than likely, you’ll need bascule bridges or swing bridges (especially between Dodge Island and Miami Beach), or a combination of the two, but using Dodge Island or even placing an elevated ROW along MacArthur Causeway as an alternative route is better than placing a 5-mile bridge along the water plus it’s more practical since there’s already some land to place the ROW anyways!
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You can't really put an operable bridge on a metro system. Chicago has two, but the bridge openings are only a few times a year when sailboats move from winter boatyards to summer marinas, or the occasional oversized load. Commuter rail can have operable bridges, it's easier to fit a bridge opening into the schedule if the trains only run once per hour.
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Right now, according to MDT, they’re going to expand all the way to Hard Rock Stadium first, then after the elevated ROW is completed, MDT is going to build each of the stations after the ROW and Hard Rock Stadium station is built out. It makes a lot of sense considering that the 2026 World Cup is going to be coming to North America and Miami is one of the host cities for the World Cup.
I’d prefer that MDT builds each station consecutively but due to the urgency of hosting the 2026 World Cup, as well as an alternative to going to and leaving events hosted by the Miami Dolphins, Miami Hurricanes, Miami Open, and the Miami Grand Prix, it makes a lot of sense why MDT would hasten the construction to Hard Rock and build up the infill stations after the ROW and Hard Rock station are completed.
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Wow... if this is the operating plan, that's quite interesting. Run trains for the World Cup only, then shut down the line again for 18-24 months while the rest of the stations are built. Still, even building the guideway is a huge project. It's not just the elevated structure, you also have to put in electrical traction power and signaling systems which are insanely complex. If they can build 8 miles of guideway before 2026 I'll be impressed... we've had a gantry in Chicago putting up a new rail structure and its gone exactly 1 mile in the past 12 months...