Ludlam Trail has cost taxpayers $42M with nothing to show. Here's what to know | Opinion

More than a decade after Miami-Dade commissioners approved converting an abandoned rail corridor into a six-mile trail, the Herald Editorial Board argues taxpayers have been left with a fenced-off corridor and no answers. The opinion piece calls the delay a test of whether the county can deliver on its promises.

FULL STORY: Ludlam Trail has cost Miami-Dade taxpayers $42M. Where is it? | Opinion

Here are key takeaways:

• The Editorial Board argues $42 million has been spent since 2015 with no final design, no signed contract and no construction start date — and says the county’s silence is more frustrating than the delay itself.
• Officials have cited a “cone of silence” rule on pending contracts, but the board counters that the rule doesn’t stop the county from explaining how the money was spent or setting a completion date.
• A winning designer was selected a year ago, yet no contract has been signed or sent to commissioners for approval — what the board calls a year of apparent inaction.
• The board points to the Underline, a longer and more complex project approved around the same time and expected to finish this year, as proof Miami-Dade can deliver when projects are properly managed.
• Former South Miami mayor Julio Robaina told the Herald, “It’s not brain surgery” — a line the board uses to argue the county has the money and a proven model but lacks accountability and urgency.

The summary was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.