Dade wants public input today on design of Ludlam Trail
A decade after a group of neighbors and activists first proposed turning an abandoned West Miami-Dade railway into a six-mile-long, park-like trail for walking and cycling, the improbable idea is now advancing to an almost certain realization — but don’t saddle up just yet.
On Thursday evening, Miami-Dade’s parks department will host the first public meeting in two years on the long-promised Ludlam Trail. It will be a key marker of progress in a planning process so prolonged that some backers can be forgiven for thinking it was never going to happen.
The good news for fans of the eagerly awaited plan: It is happening. The county has hired a team of engineers, planners and other consultants who have been busy for months drawing up plans and designs for the trail corridor, which runs in a straight shot from Southwest 80th Street in the Dadeland area to the edge of Miami International Airport and Blue Lagoon.
On Thursday, for the first time, residents and taxpayers will see renderings depicting preliminary but realistic designs for the paved and landscaped public trail, which is meant for use not just for recreation but also transportation. When complete, it will connect schools, parks and neighborhoods, shops, transportation hubs and three planned new residential and commercial “nodes” at major road intersections.
The not-so-great news: Construction won’t start before 2022, and the full trail won’t be finished until 2025. Total cost is estimated at $25 million.
That’s partly because work can’t begin until the state approves a complex, federally mandated review of environmental and development impacts that’s been underway since June of 2018 but won’t be finished until next year, county parks officials say. And it’s partly because soil contamination found along much of the old railway in 2017 will require a plan for remediation before trees are planted or the first bit of paving for the trail can be laid down.
But the county and its consultants are hoping for a well-attended virtual meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at www.miamidade.gov/ ludlamtrail, with lots of feedback from members of the public.
They also hope attendees will be jazzed up by what they see. Virtual tools include a new project website with the ability to zoom in on a smartphone or home computer on a trail map to see details during and after the meeting. Thursday’s livecast will include an instant survey.
The county will continue collecting public comments for 21 days after the meeting through its online project portal.