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The Miami Intermodal Center (MIC), a $2.25 billion project located just east of Miami-Dade International Airport (MIA), is envisioned as a consolidated transfer center for passengers using the airport, intercity and commuter trains, rapid transit, local and intercity buses, and cruise ships in the Port of Miami. The project is being developed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, with cooperation from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, Miami-Dade Transit, Amtrak, and various rental car agencies serving the airport. The MIC is the centerpiece of a series of projects, including a consolidated rental car facility for MIA, a peoplemover connection to the airport, and a number of road access improvements around the airport.
The MIC "core" will include 1.45 million square feet of developable space, with longer range plans calling for 500,000 square feet of office space, 600 hotel rooms, 350,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, and 1,400 parking spaces. Parcels surrounding the MIC core will allow over 12 million square feet of associated development governed by a new zoning overlay. Rental car fees will finance the construction of the rental car facility, and airport user fees will pay for the automated peoplemover connecting the MIC to the airport terminals.
Airport terminal roadways are faced with increasing congestion due to growth in air travel. Surrounding highways used to access the airport are clogged with traffic, in part due to the airport's location in the center of the Miami metropolitan area, the nation's third most-congested. In addition to new ramps and upgraded interchanges on airport access roads, an improved link between two major east-west highways, SR 836 and SR 112, will separate through traffic from local airport traffic in the vicinity of the airport entrance.
Approximately 80 percent of the passengers destined for nearby cruise terminals arrive at MIA and travel from the airport to the seaport by bus.1 Further adding to congestion on airport roadways, the 28 on-airport rental car companies each use courtesy vans to shuttle customers between the airport terminals and their respective lots. The MIC core will provide enhanced bus service areas for cruise ship passengers, and a consolidated rental car facility with an automated peoplemover connecting to the terminals will eliminate the need for rental car shuttles.
With a total cost of over $2.25 billion, financing the MIC has presented a challenge for the State of Florida and Miami-Dade County. Phase 1 alone will cost $1.4 billion over five years, and has receives funding from a variety of sources. For Phase 1, the MIC will receive approximately $165 million in FHWA grants, over $386 million of FDOT state funds, and a $25 million Florida State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) loan. The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority is providing $87 million in toll-backed funding and has received $18 million from Florida's SIB for the SR 836/SR 112 connector. The Miami-Dade Aviation Department will fund the $400 million MIA-MIC Connector with airport user fees.2
The large overall size of the MIC program prevented funding the entire project in a short period of time on a pay-as-you-go basis. The State of Florida, Miami-Dade County MPO, and Miami-Dade County had committed funding for Phase 1 of the overall project; however, the funds were spread over 15 years. These cash flow constraints would have caused the Phase 1 elements to be spread over 10 or more years resulting in significantly higher costs for right-of-way acquisition and construction. In addition, this would have resulted in the disruption of traffic in the area for an extended period of time.
TIFIA has been instrumental in helping the MIC accelerate the Phase I improvements. Through the award of two direct loans under the TIFIA program in 1999 totaling $433 million, MIC will be able to accelerate right-of-way acquisition and construction of the MIC core saving over $100 million in overall project cost. A $269 million TIFIA loan secured by state motor fuel tax revenues will enable the fast-tracked acquisition of right-of-way and initiation of work on the MIC core. The second TIFIA loan, for $164 million, will be used to finance the consolidated rental car facility, and will be secured by rental car fees. Other major sources of funds include state gasoline tax revenues, SIB loans, and Federal funds as described above.
Through the TIFIA credit program, completion of the MIC core will be advanced by at least five years. The MIC is a critical and significant investment in the region and the state, and will be an integral part of a safe, efficient, economical, attractive, and integrated multimodal transportation system. As a significant component of the region's transportation network, strategically located near and integrated with Miami International Airport, the MIC will help solve the mobility problems in the congested and growing South Florida area.
