MIAMI TRI-RAIL

A south Florida commuter line that began as a solution to highway construction gridlock is now a key transportation element. The railroad started in 1987 when the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced an eight-year program to widen accident-prone, traffic-clogged Interstate 95 and the parallel Florida Turnpike in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade counties. This meant that south Florida drivers faced an almost a decade of gridlock. The solution proposed was commuter rail operation on an existing CSX's single-track line that ran alongside I-95 all the way through the tri-county area. The article reviews the progress of this temporary solution, starting with the January 8, 1989 first run, through today when Tri-Rail appears to have a solid foothold in south Florida. In 1996, the system carried 2.3 million passengers, and almost 1.8 million rode from January to October 1997. Presently, Tri-Rail covers 29% of its expenses from fares, not bad in the commuter-railroad world.