Friends of The Underline has finished and opened the full length of the Kenneth C. Griffin Urban Trail, a route that runs beneath Miami’s elevated Metrorail from Brickell to Dadeland Mall ([1]). A ceremony on a Thursday morning marked the milestone. For walkers and cyclists, the opening creates one continuous path through several Miami-Dade neighborhoods, a corridor that once existed only as a set of disconnected stretches.
Twelve Years From a Bicycle Accident to a Finished Corridor
The idea came from Meg Daly, founder and executive chair of Friends of The Underline, after a bicycle crash. She has said she wanted to turn the land below the Metrorail into a park and trail, and the project grew from that single idea. The work unfolded over 12 years and in several phases, a timeline that reflects how much coordination a project of this length requires.
The first section, the Brickell Backyard, covers roughly a half mile and opened as a small preview of what would follow. Its outdoor “rooms” each serve a different purpose, from a riverside area to an urban gym with a running track and fitness stations ([2]). Later phases extended the corridor southward, including a 2.14-mile segment that opened in April 2024 ([3]).
A Public and Private Effort Behind the Trail
The project cost roughly $150 million and drew on federal, local and private philanthropic funding. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has framed the trail as a matter of mobility, saying people need a safe, shaded place to walk and bicycle. She also noted that the path works as a commuting route, not only a recreation space…