What’s new at Hard Rock Stadium in 2019 — and why your drive home should be easier

Getting home from Dolphins games can be a challenge.

But it should be easier and faster in 2019 with new tunnels and bridges designed to improve traffic flow in and out of Hard Rock Stadium.

Work on two new pedestrian bridges — one over Dan Marino Boulevard and the other over the Turnpike access road — should be completed in time for the Dolphins’ regular-season opener. That would check off an important box for team CEO Tom Garfinkel in his years-long quest to turn the stadium into a cutting edge facility.

“We think it will certainly make things safer at the stadium and will also make it easier because pedestrian traffic holds up the vehicular traffic and it takes longer to get out,” Garfinkel said. “Now, cars can flow out freely.”

That’s the biggest change in 2019 for a stadium that has undergone big ones during the past five years. The half billion renovation project helped turn Hard Rock Stadium itself into a premier sports destination. There will be other smaller new touches this year, including elevators, landscaping and cabana suites on the 300 level.

There’s been plenty of work to the surrounding grounds, too. The Miami Open moved from Key Biscayne to Miami Gardens this year, transforming parking lots into tennis courts. The team is also in talks with Formula One about bringing a race to Hard Rock in the next few years.

Furthermore, security has been seriously beefed up, and influential people have noticed. The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security recently gave Hard Rock its Facility of Merit for Safety and Security Award — a point of pride within the organization.

And next month, the Dolphins will officially break ground on a , $75 million training complex, which will be adjacent to the stadium. Work on the land has already begun, Garfinkel said.

Meanwhile, skepticism — locally and nationally — about the Dolphins’ chances on the field this fall has not appreciably hurt the team’s bottom line.

“Ticket sales for the Dolphins have been going really well,” Garfinkel said. “We expect to sell out all the games again. Pretty consistent with the last couple of years from that standpoint.”

▪ The Miami Dolphins Foundation on Thursday announced a $1.5 million donation to Baptist Health Foundation in support of Miami Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute’s youth athletic outreach program.

The money will help Baptist provide doctors, trainers and other health services to underfunded youth and high school football programs throughout South Florida.

“We care about the game of football,” Garfinkel said. “Football helps shape young men in this country into men of character and work ethic. I know that for me, it helped create who I am as a person today, as a leader, as a competitor, as a teammate. This announcement today helps make this game more safe.”