Metromover system overhaul gains funding

County commissioners last week unanimously passed a resolution adding $6.7 million to a contract to support the Metromover comprehensive wayside system overhaul project. The additional funds bring the contract to more than $14 million.

The contract with New York-based Atkins North America Inc. is for construction, engineering, and inspection services. It passed unanimously without comment.

The money will provide additional services for contract administration and inspection necessary to support the Metromover comprehensive Wayside System Overhaul Project.

The project calls for the “upgrading all of our switches, our controls system to create improved reliability, as well as other operational upgrades,” Eulois Cleckley, director of the county Department of Transportation and Public Works, told Miami Today in early 2023.

In April 1986 The Metromover System began passenger services with nine stations configured in a 1.9-mile loop and operated a total fleet of 12 vehicles within the Miami Central Business District, according to a report from the mayor’s office to commissioners.

In May 1994, the Metromover extensions to the Omni and Brickell areas began service, which added 2.5 more miles of guideway, 12 stations and 17 vehicles. In 2008, the first 12 mover vehicles were replaced, followed by 17 replacements in 2012.

Today’s Metromover System is comprised of 21 stations, 4.4 miles of dual lane guideway, 25 guideway switches, 29 vehicles and a Central Control Facility at the Government Center, the report states.

While the system has extended service in its 34-year history “many major subsystems that comprise the system have not been replaced or refurbished and have now reached the end of its design life,” the report notes.

Specifically, these subsystems include the automatic train control system, the data transmission system, several power distribution system elements such as low-voltage breakers, protective relays and ground switches, guideway switch equipment and central control equipment.

Miami Today reported last October that the project should be completed by May 2025.