After a pressure campaign, there’s finally action on long-promised Ludlam Trail

West Miami-Dade admin July 28, 2026 0 Comments

After a pressure campaign, there’s finally action on long-promised Ludlam Trail

The long-stalled Ludlam Trail project in west Miami-Dade appears to have gained a second wind as county commissioners belatedly approved a $9.5 million contract for design of the 5.6-mile biking and running trail and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava issued a video pledging to “deliver” the ambitious project.

The county officials’ actions came two weeks after frustrated advocates and current and former elected officials embarked on a public campaign to press the county to clarify the status of the project, as yet unbuilt though it’s been in the works for two decades, and to move forward on design and construction.

While there are still no clear details on a project timeline, funding or overall cost, Levine Cava, in a two-and-a-half-minute video posted on county social media accounts over the weekend, hailed unanimous commission approval of the design contract on July 21 as “a significant milestone” in the project.

“We’re no longer talking about if the Ludlam Trail is happening. We’re talking about how we’re going to deliver it,” she said.

Advocates for the trail applauded the contract approval and Levine Cava’s message but noted that significant questions about the trail remain unanswered, including how the county has spent funds for the project.

The trail project, approved by the County Commission in 2015 after years of planning and debate, aims to convert a stretch of old rail line running parallel to Ludlam Road into a path for people on foot and on bikes. Although the county has so far spent $42 million on it, including the cost of buying most of the corridor property from Florida East Coast Railway, the trail property remains fenced off and undeveloped except for short trail sections that were completed by developers as part of three residential and commercial projects on the corridor.

The county parks department, which is running the project, had said three years ago that it would select a designer and have a full trail blueprint by now. But advocates complained that officials had gone silent, rebuffing requests for updates or explanations for the apparent delays.

Julio Robaina, a former South Miami mayor and state legislator who is helping lead the push under a broader trails initiative by Miami City Commissioner Ralph Rosado, said at a public session earlier this month that the county had, for unclear reasons, selected a design firm a year before but not moved to approve the contract. County officials at the meeting did not respond.

About 10 days after the Miami Herald published a story on the meeting, the proposed design contract unexpectedly appeared on the agenda for last week’s Miami-Dade County Commission meeting. The item’s principal sponsor was Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis, whose district includes much of the trail and who has been pushing to resuscitate the project.

“There was a lot of pressure put on everyone at County Hall,” Robaina said. “There is all of a sudden a kind of support we’ve never seen before.”

Agenda documents indicate the county and the contractor that won the bid over six competitors, civil engineering giant Kimley-Horn, had agreed on a five-year contract eight months earlier, on Dec. 3.

The only discussion before the commission contract vote came when Commissioner Raquel Regalado, whose district includes the southern end of the proposed trail in South Miami, said she would prefer that the parks department turn over the project to public works and transportation, the department that is overseeing construction of The Underline, a trail and linear park that runs from Dadeland to Brickell. Ludlam Trail advocates have made the same suggestion.

The 10-mile-long Underline, launched at about the same time as the Ludlam Trail, is scheduled for completion in October, Regalado noted, while saying she won’t insist on the change in oversight.

That prompted a brief outburst from Commissioner Oliver Gilbert.

“I hope not!” said Gilbert, who has complained about the Underline’s cost.

What we know about the future of the Ludlam Trail

County documents and statements on the Kimley-Horn contract only partially answer questions about the Ludlam Trail project’s cost and funding.

The contract for $9.5 million, plus a “contingency allowance” of $843,960 covers design and construction documents for an 18-foot-wide paved bicycle and pedestrian trail, landscaping and shade trees, lighting, connections to parks and neighborhoods along the trail, seating areas and other unspecified amenities. It also covers “coordination and review” of remediation for soil contamination previously discovered in several places along the corridor.

Under the contract, Kimley-Horn will also act as the county’s representative during construction, a role that will include conducting site inspections.

The firm won’t start from scratch, though. Documents indicate its design will build on a conceptual plan and basic trail designs already developed and paid for as part of an environmental impact study required for federal funding.

In a news release, the parks department said the public will have a chance to help refine designs and request additional amenities in meetings that will begin later this year, though no schedule was released. The parks release also says the county “has secured nearly $48 million toward the Ludlam Trail” but doesn’t specify the source of the money or its use.

In her video statement, Levine Cava provided additional detail but did not fully clarify lingering questions.

She said the project will be built in phases so that sections can be opened to public use as they’re completed. She said the first phase to be built, the segment between Bird Road and Coral Way, has been “fully funded” but did not provide a figure.

The county has not disclosed a total project cost estimate, but Milian Orbis said administrators put it to her at $180 million — a figure that some trail advocates say sounds too high for the basic trail and landscaping that’s envisioned.

Still unclear also is the cost of four planned Ludlam Trail bridges over major roads and where the money would come from for those. County officials have said the Florida Department of Transportation has pledged to build three of the bridges, but the agency has not publicly confirmed any commitment. The fourth is to be built by a developer.

The Kimley-Horn contract, meanwhile, says the firm will design the Ludlam Trail’s crossings over canals and streets but doesn’t specify whether that includes the major bridges. Most of the street crossings in the plan are at ground level.

Advocates said they were pleased to see progress but questioned why the contract amount is so high given that substantial design work and a conceptual plan have already been done.

“I appreciate the good-will gesture to move it forward,” Robaina said of the contract. “We still have a lot of unanswered questions.”