Miami, FL
Learning From Miami
Last weekend, I went to Miami for a conference, and explored a wide range of neighborhoods, including both suburbs like Sweetwater and North Miami, and urban places such as Wynwood and downtown Miami. One of the most unusual things about Miami is that it combines a high density (over 12,000 people per mile in its small central city) with relatively low transit ridership (about 7 percent in 2022, lower than medium-density cities like Buffalo).* Even some of its suburbs are pretty dense: North Miami Beach (where I stayed over the weekend) has just over 8500 residents per square mile, and Sweetwater (where I stayed Sunday night) is more densely populated than Miami. What is Miami doing wrong?
The first thing I noticed was that except for the quietest residential streets, commercial streets are designed for high-speed traffic — even in parts of a city where walking would normally be common. For example, Brickell Avenue is one of downtown’s more high-end streets, one with a significant amount of housing and public transit. So you might think that Brickell is a comfortable street for pedestrians. But Brickell is six lanes wide, not my idea of a pedestrian-friendly layout. Similarly, you might think that streets near Florida International University (FIU) would be pretty walkable — but FIU is moated off from Sweetwater (a suburb just to its north) by an eight-lane street that resembles a highway with traffic lights more than it resembles a commercial street. To make matters worse, this highway is not even fully connected to the Sweetwater street grid: instead of crossing every block to get to FIU, a walker can only cross the street once every several blocks.
Of course, these are major streets. But Miami also suffers from what traffic engineers call collector streets: streets that lack the commerce and excitement of high-traffic arterials but are nevertheless just wide enough to have dangerously fast car traffic. For example, in North Miami Beach, I mostly walked on N.E. 179th Street and the streets just to its north from Northeast 13th Avenue to Northeast 18th Avenue. 13th and 14th Avenues are quiet, two-lane residential streets that I felt comfortable crossing. By contrast, 15th Avenue has a turning lane and is just wide enough to support faster traffic. As a result, crossing it was a bit adventurous.
On the positive side, most of the city buses I was on were at least half full, and some were standing room only. However, bus rides from city to suburb can be quite long: for example, my ride from downtown Miami to North Miami Beach took almost two hours. By contrast, in Buffalo, most bus routes take only an hour from beginning to end, and even the 20-mile bus ride from Buffalo to Niagara Falls takes about 75 minutes.
This example illustrates a broader problem with city buses in large metro areas: in an area as large as Los Angeles or Miami-Dade County, suburbs can be so far away from a city that bus commutes can take longer than in a smaller but less dense metro. It follows that in a largish metro area, even an otherwise adequate bus network and high central-city density doesn’t protect people from long commutes. And Miami does not have a strong rail system to supplement its buses: Miami’s Metro Rail has only one line, fewer than other Sun Belt metros such as Atlanta (two lines) or Dallas (five). In other words, you can get almost anywhere in Miami Dade County by bus, but it may take a long time to do so.
On the positive side, Miami suburbs are a little more generous with housing than the suburbs of Blue America. On the major Long Island arterials I have seen, housing other than single-family homes is rare. By contrast, the major arterial I saw in North Miami Beach (Northeast 185th Street) did have plenty of apartments, even though the nearby homeowner blocks had none. So at least Miami’s suburbs have done something to alleviate the national housing famine. Sweetwater was even more generous; I saw apartments on side streets as well as on Flagler (the city’s major arterial).
In sum, Miami underperforms when it comes to transit, with a lower transit mode share than some lower-density cities. Although I am not completely sure why this is the case, one possible reason is that streets are designed for speeding cars to an even greater extent than in other American cities. In addition, Miami is just large enough that city-to-suburb bus commutes can be more punishing than in a smaller metro like Buffalo.
*Pre-COVID data is similar: in 2015, 11 percent of Miami commutes were by transit, well below the mode share for medium-density Rust Belt cities like Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Hartford. I note, however, that Miami’s transit ridership was higher than that of Sun Belt cities like Atlanta and Dallas.
Once a year, leaders in transportation and trade come together to discuss the “State of the Ports” and what the future holds.
Could a second airport be coming to Miami-Dade?
Last week, the county commission moved forward with studying the possibility, warning that Miami International Airport could reach capacity within the next 15 years.
“We are working through that right now. It is a long process that takes anywhere from 15 to 20 years,” said Ralph Cutie, Director and CEO of Miami International Airport.
As for expanding PortMiami, Director and CEO Hydi Webb says building outward isn’t an option.
“We really can’t build on our island and make it bigger, but what we are doing is building vertically,” Webb said.
These are just some of the discussions highlighted at this year’s “State of the Ports” event, which examines how the industry is adapting to growing demand, population increases, and rising tourism.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava emphasized the need to stay ahead.
“We have to make sure that we stay not only current, but that we get ahead—that’s why we call it ‘future-ready,’” she said.
Cutie says the airport’s Capital Improvement Plan now totals $14 billion. The plan will roll out over the next 15 years to accommodate an estimated 77 million passengers and 4.2 million tons of cargo by 2040.
That includes major upgrades across the airport.
“From replacing all of our passenger loading bridges to upgrading elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and renovating all of our restrooms,” Cutie said.
There are also improvements planned for concourses and terminals.
“We have a new Concourse K under construction—a $750 million project expected to be completed by 2029. Concourse D60, a $1.1 billion project, will break ground in 2027 and be completed by 2030,” he added.
Another major focus is cargo. Cutie says volume has grown for six consecutive years.
“We are finalizing our cargo development master plan, which will add a few million square feet to our cargo facilities,” he said.
At PortMiami, the strategy is similar—grow upward and operate more efficiently.
“We are stacking containers higher with modern infrastructure. We’re also building garages and facilities that can include parking, intermodal areas, and even office space,” Webb said.
She added that future plans could include shifting some operations off-site.
“We are studying the concept of an inland port—looking at what functions we can move off the port, like empty container storage,” Webb explained.
It’s important to note that these projects are expected to be funded through public-private partnerships, not taxpayer dollars, according to Tax Collector Dariel Fernández.
After four weekends without a Formula 1 race, we will soon be back on track with a spectacular event in the United States. As the paddock heads to the second Sprint weekend of the season, there are a number of talking points and unknowns to get stuck into ahead of the trip to Miami.
Upgrades, and lots of ‘em
The Miami Grand Prix has seen some teams bring significant upgrade packages in the past, but it’s a whole new ball game this year.
New regulations mean an increased development rate in the early part of the season, as teams are able to find bigger gains as they explore different directions that have been opened up by the rules.
Where many of the teams might have been aiming to bring their first major updates to the Bahrain Grand Prix, the two scheduled rounds in April being unable to take place has meant more time to develop and manufacture new parts, as well as additional spares before the race weekend in Miami.
The scale of the changes could be massive across the grid, with McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella going as far as describing his team’s efforts as representing a whole new car, and he doesn’t think they’ll be alone.
“In our intent, there was always the idea to deliver a completely new car – especially from a aerodynamic upgrades point of view – for the North American races,” Stella said. “So we could keep up with this plan. Obviously, the fact that the calendar has been changed sort of helped a little bit, like I’m sure helped all the other teams that could work more streamlined towards upgrading the car rather than being busy with racing.
“But I could say overall that across Miami and Canada, we will see an entirely new MCL40… I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors.”
Antonelli’s happy hunting ground
Sometimes it’s a little hard to believe the current championship leader is only in his second season in F1, and even harder to recall the struggles he faced during the European swing of races last year.
Kimi Antonelli had an encouraging start to 2025, but the first headline moments came in Miami and Montreal. Prior to his first podium in Canada, the visit to the Miami International Autodrome saw Antonelli set the fastest time in Sprint Qualifying, and he followed that with a top three Qualifying performance, just 0.067s adrift of pole position.
Given the difficulties he faced with the Mercedes throughout the middle part of last year, Antonelli’s performance in Miami stands out as a particularly strong weekend. Arriving with a nine-point championship lead over George Russell after back-to-back wins from pole position, will he be able to replicate that on his return this year?
Regulation tweaks
This year’s regulations have been a major talking point among drivers and fans alike, and were always designed with mechanisms that could be adjusted if required once there was proven on-track data from race weekends.
With three rounds down in Australia, China and Japan, the unexpected gap in races provided a larger window for discussions to take place among the sport’s key stakeholders – also including the teams, drivers, FIA and power unit manufacturers – about any changes that could address certain aspects of car performance.
Meetings were described by many of those involved as extremely collaborative, and the main outcomes focused on trying to allow drivers to maximise Qualifying performance as well as reducing the likelihood of excessive closing speeds in race conditions.
The changes have been carefully considered and simulated using the data from the opening three events, but Miami will be the first true test of them in race conditions.
Two American teams and a first home race for Cadillac
Miami has quickly become a significant stop on the calendar for the entire field, with multiple teams carrying out additional activations and often running special liveries.
There will likely be a number of designs on display again this year, but two teams get to call it the first of three home races, as Haas return looking to add to a record of just three points – two of them in a Sprint – in the previous four editions. Given the strong form to start the year that sees Haas sitting fourth in the Teams’ Championship, more points will certainly be the target.
While the on-track aims are currently at a different stage to Haas, it will still be a big weekend for Cadillac as they make their debut on home soil. The team are hoping to bring their first upgrade package to Miami, but also feel the support from the American crowd as they continue their maiden season in the sport.
Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are sure to have a huge amount of backing during the race weekend, as is another member of the Cadillac line-up…
A Sprint weekend and an F2 US debut
It’s not just Cadillac getting to enjoy their first home race in Miami, but their third driver Colton Herta also has an unexpected chance to race in Formula 2 in the United States.
Herta has made the switch from IndyCar and with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia unable to take place in April – they were both set to feature F2 rounds – that has meant the next two North American F1 weekends will host instead. For the first time as either F2 or its previous guise as GP2, the feeder series will be racing on the continent, giving fans a chance to see the next generation racing twice over each weekend.
And speaking of racing twice, that’s exactly what the F1 grid will be doing as both Miami and Montreal are Sprint weekends, providing two opportunities to score points.
Given the length of the gap between races, and the amendments made to the regulations since the last time the teams were on track in Japan, the FIA has opted to extend the only practice session on Friday from its usual one-hour length to run for 90 minutes. It’s sure to be an action-packed weekend.
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