The Underline: Miami’s Dutch-Inspired Active Transportation Corridor

In 2015, the Dutch Cycling Embassy, along with experts Erik Tetteroo (HODworks), Tonny Bosch (MOVE Mobility), Sjors van Duren (Royal HaskoningDHV) traveled to Miami for a ThinkBike Workshop to plan and discuss how the region can become more cycle-friendly. 

The goal was to provide support on The Underline project. Using the already existing linear right of way below Miami’s Metrorail, Friends of The Underline and Miami Dade County’s Transportation and Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces (PROS) Parks Department teams are building a 10-mile-long bicycle and pedestrian trail. This space is intended to bring the people of Miami together, including a series of parks and other community amenities. 

We had the opportunity to speak with Meg Daly, CEO of Friends of The Underline, and Maria M. Debye Saxinger, Master Plan Manager at Miami-Dade County, to learn more about The Underline project and how they are rethinking what is possible with underused spaces in big metropolises like Miami.   

This year, the Dutch Cycling Embassy celebrates its 12.5-year anniversary. To document and celebrate the global impact the DCE and our network has had over that period, we are highlighting multiple projects. This article is part of the series #DCELegacy. 

Q&A with Meg Daly and Maria Debye Saxinger 

How did you get involved in an infrastructure project like The Underline?  

I had a bike accident in which I broke both of my arms. After a couple of months, I was taking the train and then walking below it to physical therapy. It was then that I had the crazy idea of taking the land under the Metrorail and turning it into a park and trail. 

Back then it was just an unbaked idea. The big question was: who owns this land and how can I make this happen? People then pointed me in the right direction, towards Jack Kardys and Maria Nardi, who worked at the Parks department for the county. We also got help from architecture students at the University of Miami. They segmented the project into 1-mile sections and each student worked on one mile for a semester. That was the beginning of having something visual to work with to help fundraise and move to professional master planning. 

The next step was shopping it and telling everyone who would listen about the project. There were a couple of surprises along the way. The first was how open the Miami Dade County administration and the elected officials were. They said at the end of the day it comes down to: if the community wants it, if it’s worth it and, if it’s fundable. I had to dedicate myself as a volunteer, now for 11 years, and leave the business sector to be the leader of a non-profit. 

How do people get around Miami currently? Does anyone currently cycle? 

We have some bike and pedestrian counters and noticed that during COVID the usage of the M-Path (pre-Underline) tripled. Our thesis that people would use the bike more if they felt safe turned out to be true because there were no cars on the road during  that period. Mitigating that conflict/fear of conflict meant everybody was dusting off their bikes including kids who had never learned to bike. Overall, the bike is a very small mode of transport here. Cars dominate the transportation system, but  there are plans for a growing mass transport system as well. The bike is primarily used recreationally rather than for commuting. But there is a big opportunity for first and last-mile connections. When we get to 10 miles (of The Underline), I think we’ll see a mode shift to commute. 

The Underline corridor is a central spine of physical and social activity. What is the larger vision of the project? How does the bike fit in? 

The backbone of the project is the trail but then you have the park component. Some of the sections are up to 130 feet wide, which gives us a lot of freedom to build things. In the first few miles, we’ve already planted over 150,000 plants and trees, all native, not fertilized, no irrigation. The whole park is a pollinator garden intended to attract birds, bees and butterflies. There is also a social component with people walking their dogs or exercising.  

We also have a massive program of activations. For the first half mile, we produce 200 free events per year;these included dance, yoga, health and wellness, bike rides, music and more There is also a playground for kids. I’ve heard many stories, for example an artist who lost 40 pounds by using The Underline to exercise. To be the agent of people’s personal health changes is very gratifying. It is cliché but you have to say: “If you build it, they will come”. 

Where does the workshop fit in (one year after the start of the project)? Why was it important to bring in experts from the Netherlands?  

That was an initiative through the county parks department because they had worked with the Dutch Cycling Embassy before. We need to learn how to prioritize cycling as a real mode of transportation. We asked ourselves: “How could we learn from countries like the Netherlands?”. We see in countries like Denmark and the Netherlands that there is civic pride in biking. We know that it makes us healthier, more connected to the outside world and offsets our carbon footprint. But we don’t realize enough that it’s as effective as driving in terms of speed. To make that happen we need very high-quality infrastructure that makes people feel safe and able to make their three-mile journey faster by bike. This relationship between the Dutch Cycling Embassy and Miami-Dade County, on many fronts is about education and learning from what you do well. Last year, we collaborated with the Dutch Cycling Embassy and the Miami Dade TPO to debut a documentary about how to “Go Dutch” with your bike network. So many people came to The Underline to see how the experts accomplished a bike friendly environment. The Dutch continue to inspire us every day.  

What were your main takeaways/inspiration from the Netherlands?  

In our culture, you hear ‘no’ a lot. To make change we need to do things differently and be more accepting of new ideas like they are in Europe. The other thing was the multi-generational approach to biking. Cycling there is for everyone. I remember when I rode my bike to school in the late 1960s in Miami. A generation later, my kids were not allowed to ride their bikes to school, and we lived a half a mile away. They asked why and I said it was the drivers. But my answer was wrong. It wasn’t the drivers, it was the infrastructure. Just fighting for a protected bike lane is an uphill battle. We need separate, protected facilities with crosswalks designed to protect cyclists and pedestrians rather than always giving cars priority.  Planning in a way that is people first  is a gamechanger and it needs to happen even more quickly. 

The Underline is life-changing because it will allow many kids to safely bike to school, bike to a playground and go for a walk. It saves hours that would otherwise be spent in the car. This dedicated space is a big step forward for Miami, where cars and bikes don’t coexist well. There is currently a stigma with taking public transportation or biking to work. I think that will change with this project. Now it’s becoming cool and fun. 

Seeing the work the DCE does to export the philosophy and belief system is helpful. Especially in a community that has never embraced biking to get around. Being able to point to these kinds of success stories has not only been helpful in terms of base education, but it’s also been helpful for my soul. Some days you ask yourself if it’s even possible and then other people before you have made it possible, and that really helps me to keep believing. 

What were the priorities you looked at when thinking about the cyclists using The Underline? 

The Thinkbike Workshop pushed us to think beyond typical infrastructure solutions. The DCE provided us with high-quality information about bicycle infrastructure. The key drivers of the project remain consistent: listening first, designing second. When we say listening it’s not just a few people but a robust public engagement process. We didn’t only hold public meetings, but we also went to churches, temples and neighborhood associations. The key is inviting them to talk about what they want. Some of these ideas were ours but mostly they were the community’s. 

The priorities of the project have remained consistent for over a decade: safety first, nature second and community third. Community includes events, programs, things to do, public art. Safety is very important. If I don’t feel safe on the bike or on foot 24 hours a day, we’ve failed. If it’s dark at night and I can’t bike or walk, we’ve failed. All those things cost money, but we invested in safety because if you don’t get that solved, number two and number three don’t work. 

We now get 1.5 million visitors per year in our first half mile, and we are projecting nine million at full buildout. It’s nice having a thesis but to be able to prove it is even better. The numbers tell the truth. 

What has the public reaction to the project been? 

So positive! People who weren’t so sure about The Underline are beginning to see the vision. On the highway that runs parallel, we have 100,000 cars in both directions. On the ribbon cutting day, the pedestrians and cyclists were going faster than the gridlock traffic. People start to make choices based on what works for them. At our launch event, there was an elected official who came into office six years after the start of our project. He initially didn’t believe that people would ride a bike in Miami. At the ribbon cutting though, he was 100% bought into the project. He saw how much this project could impact his constituents and how they were behind the project. It’s impressive to live through that conversion. We always have to re-educate. As new officials come in, they don’t only have to learn about The Underline but about everything. 

Are there further projects for people to be able to get to and from The Underline? 

We should be working on the feeder system but there are communities that really don’t want bike lanes on their roads. Now that the Underline is starting to open, people are asking themselves why they don’t have a safe way to get there. So, it will be a delay, but I think it will happen particularly for kids wanting to get to school. There is an organization here called BikeSafe that created a pop-up bike path near an elementary school. These pilots end up being permanent and we did that with the parks department early on. We also put gym equipment in temporarily to see how it got used and people pick it up instantly and before you know it, that parklet informed the permanent Urban Gym in Brickell The way new housing developments are being built also accommodates access to The Underline more and more with pedestrian plazas and bike storage for example. They are becoming acutely aware of the importance of it being a connected system.