Expanding Miami commuter options

The rails in place in the Miami area are few. What possibilities would there be of expanding options for commuters? There is absolutely nothing in place to help folks coming from the south or the west of the city.

The Miami-Dade Busway follows the former FEC corridor as far south as there's civilization, and connects to Metrorail at its north end. Keeping that as a busway may actually be a good idea; there are a number of routes that run local in various residential and commercial areas then run express on the busway. ([http://www.miamidade.gov/transit/librar ... ps-web.pdf Map]) It's pretty adaptable for future demand - if you get enough density south of Dadeland, you could either replace sections of the busway with Metrorail, or string wires and drop rails in the concrete and run light rail mixed with the buses.

To the northwest, the existing freight spur doesn't run through residential areas. That'll probably be best served by the existing bus grid, with potential LRT overlay later.

To the west, the CSX spur might be a viable commuter route.

To the southwest, the CSX line is very probably a viable route at least as far as Richmond West.

I know all about the busway; I live two blocks from it. If one takes the Turnpike or the Palmetto further to the west, however, the morass of traffic is unbearable in rush hour. And CSX, to my knowledge, has no spur to the west of the city. It does, however, have a branch running to Homestead. Long and short of it: commuter rail In Miami is pretty poor.

Here's is what I would propose. The Metromover branch past the port to Miami Beach may be difficult because the channel has very tall ships.

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