Miami-Dade County may be unable to expand its transit network without raising taxes, according to an internal memo co-authored by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the Department of Transportation and Public Works.

What is blocking Miami-Dade from building its remaining transit corridors?

The memo frames new taxes as a likely prerequisite — not a last resort — for getting any of the five remaining SMART Program corridors built, as not one has secured construction funding. The document, first obtained by the Miami Herald, lays out the funding challenge facing the North, Beach, East-West, Kendall, and Northeast corridors, all of which have advanced through planning and environmental review stages at varying speeds without crossing into funded construction.

  • South Dade TransitWay is the only SMART corridor to have made it to launch.
  • The memo outlines potential funding strategies but stops short of endorsing a specific tax mechanism or dollar figure.
  • Any tax increase affecting Miami-Dade residents would require voter approval.

What would each of the five unfunded corridors do?

The five corridors each represent a distinct community with its own commuting pressures, spanning Miami Beach, Kendall, major employment centers, and underserved communities in the north.

  • Beach Corridor would connect Miami Beach to the mainland.
  • Kendall Corridor would serve one of the county's densest suburban zones.
  • East-West Corridor would link major employment centers.
  • North and Northeast corridors would extend rapid transit into underserved communities that have long relied on an aging bus network.

What does the path forward require politically?

The path forward involves not just political will at the county level but a countywide ballot campaign, since any tax increase must go before Miami-Dade voters. The memo does not set a deadline or propose a specific ballot date, leaving the timeline open, but its existence signals that the administration is moving from aspirational planning language toward a harder fiscal conversation with the public.

Original reporting on this story was published by WLRN.