Some day, bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to cross the Florida East Coast Railway corridor in Fort Lauderdale without risking life and limb. And the Black and white communities historically divided by the tracks might get a little closer.
The Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which obtains federal funding for local transportation projects, has won a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for tunnels at five points along the rail line that carries FEC freight trains and Brightline’s speedy passenger trains and will eventually carry local commuter trains.
The cash outlay — from the Biden Administration — is part of a national program the White House rolled out Wednesday that will distribute $3.3 billion for 132 projects in 40 states aimed at benefitting lower income, disadvantaged people and reunited communities, according to a White House announcement. Dubbed the Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Access and Equity program, the Department of Transportation is awarding 72 planning grants, 52 capital construction grants, and eight regional planning grants.
“While the purpose of transportation is to connect, in too many communities, past infrastructure decisions have served instead to divide. Now the Biden-Harris administration is acting to fix that,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
“We had historic investments in infrastructure in the ’60s, but a legacy of discrimination was a major part of those infrastructure investments,” Tom Perez, senior adviser to Biden, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in a telephone interview. “In pursuit of getting to places faster, they cut right through communities. This is really about investing in reconnecting and rebuilding communities large and small.”
Connect FTL
The local project, literally called “Connect FTL — Reconnecting Disadvantaged People to the Other Side of the Railroad Tracks,” is a $1.875 million effort between the Broward MPO and the City of Fort Lauderdale, which is contributing $375,000, Gregory Stuart, executive director of the MPO, said in an interview. According to an agency project summary, five highway-rail grade crossings at roadways that intersect with the FEC in Fort Lauderdale will be supplemented by tunnels beneath the railroad.
Dollars to Florida also are flowing to Miami for an Interstate 395 area project that will transform the barrier of the original roadway “by integrating a 33-acre open space and mile-long trail system below the highway,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Money is also going to the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lands in Miami-Dade County have been bisected. And Jacksonville received money for a project.
Stuart said by phone Wednesday that the Fort Lauderdale program had its origins in a multi-agency effort to break the gridlock that has been building up along the city’s east-west thoroughfares.
“We started working with the city and Florida Department of Transportation looking at places where we could alleviate east-west congestion on our roadways,” he said. “That started a longer conversation with then-Mayor Lamar Fisher and (Fort Lauderdale) Mayor Dean Trantalis.”
Trantalis did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Stuart said the east-west tunnels beneath the rail corridor would be where the FEC tracks intersect in the areas of Andrews Avenue and Broward, Davie, Sistrunk and Sunrise boulevards.
“It’s a really good opportunity for the MPO, the city of Fort Lauderdale, the state and county to work together to figure out something that has been a long time coming,” he said.
Reuniting communities
“The (FEC) railroad line historically functioned as a demarcation line for the ‘color line’ ordinance enacted in the city in the 1920s to restrict Black resident to the northwestern side of the FEC and continues to be a barrier to those communities,” the MPO said in its grant application.
“The FEC separates the historically Black neighborhoods of Fort Lauderdale from the wealthier areas in the eastern part of the city. In addition, most services, and facilities such as hospitals, schools, grocery stores, parks, and entertainment venues, are in the east side,” the MPO summary adds.
The tunnels, according to the Broward MPO summary, “will add dedicated sidewalks and bike lanes at each intersection to address current safety and access needs, and in preparation of the opening of new (Broward Commuter Rail) stations at two of the intersections identified by this project. Expected walk and bike accessibility improvements are expected to reach 12,000 and 100,000 residents, respectively.”
Safety enhancement
While pitched as a unifying social and economic force, another important goal of the project is to foster safety around the rail line, Stuart said.
Trains operated by Brightline, the high-speed railroad between Miami and Orlando that passes through Fort Lauderdale along the corridor, have been involved in a significant number of crashes leading to deaths and injuries involving pedestrians illegally walking along the tracks or crossing in front of moving trains.
“The at-grade crossings create dangerous conditions for travelers, especially for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists as the crossings lack sidewalks and bike lanes,” the MPO summary notes. “Currently, train crossings amount to up to five-minute delays in travel times for travelers.”
“There have been many, many accidents,” Stuart said. “There are safety issues we are going to be addressing.”
The number of daily train crossings is expected to increase by 70% after the development of the Broward Commuter Rail, which is now in the planning stages by Broward County.
“We’re projecting 84% population growth by 2045 within one mile of where these five (tunnel) projects are,” Stuart added. “We’ve got to do something with this. This cannot stay the way it is.”