CASE STUDY REPORT: MIAMI INTERMODAL CENTER

This case study report documents the experience with collaborative funding of airport ground access involved in the development of a major intermodal facility named the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC), located adjacent to the Miami International Airport. The MIC is being developed by the Florida Department of Transportation in cooperation with the Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD), Miami-Dade Transit, and a number of other stakeholders. The MIC project includes a Rental Car Center (RCC) that opened in July 2010 and accommodates the operations of all on-airport rental car companies, as well as serving as the pickup and drop-off location for all off-airport rental car companies, an automated people-mover to transport passengers and their baggage between the MIC and the airport terminals, that commenced operations in September 2011, and an intermodal facility termed the Miami Central Station (MCS), that is projected to be completed in 2013. The MCS will provide a major regional intermodal hub for rail and bus services, including the regional Metrorail transit system, commuter trains operated by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, and Amtrak. The MIC and associated infrastructure, including roadway and highway improvements and an extension of the Metrorail system to the MIC, is projected to cost over $2 billion when completed. Funding for the project includes federal, state and local grants, mostly programmed through the regional Transportation Improvement Plan and Long Range Transportation Plan process, and federal and state loans through the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, the Florida State Transportation Trust Fund, and the Florida State Infrastructure Bank. The extension of the Metrorail system from the existing Earlington Heights station to the MIC is being primarily funded with revenues from a half-percent local sales tax approved by Miami-Dade County voters under a measure termed the People’s Transportation Plan. Revenue to cover the interest and pay off the principal on the $270 million TIFIA loan, as well as cover some of the land acquisition and construction costs for the RCC, the operating and maintenance expenses for the RCC, and contribute toward the operating and maintenance costs of the automated people-mover, is being provided from a Customer Facility Charge that is levied on all rental car transactions by the rental car companies operating in the RCC. The MIC is not only a major transportation project in its own right, but represents what is easily the most ambitious attempt to date to create a major regional intermodal hub adjacent to a large U.S. airport. Not surprisingly for a project of this scale and scope, by the time development of the MIC and associated infrastructure is completed, construction will have been underway for at least twelve years. As might be expected, the details of the project have also evolved over time and the funding plans have also had to evolve to accommodate changes both in the cost and scope of the project, as well as take advantage of new funding opportunities that have emerged over the course of the project. Fundamental to the successful completion of the project has been the unwavering commitment and financial support of the Florida Department of Transportation, as well as consistent support from the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners and other regional stakeholders.