Update on The Underline
Construction will begin this year on the Gables section of the vaunted linear park.
When Meg Daly had a bicycle accident 10 years ago and broke bones in both elbows, she remembers thinking, “They call it the funny bone. But this is not funny.”
Unable to drive, the crash got the lifelong Coral Gables resident to begin walking everywhere, including on the path beneath the Metrorail track. And that turned out to be a lucky break for her, the city, and Miami-Dade County as she envisioned what promises to be an attraction as iconic as Manhattan’s High Line and nearly seven times as long.
When it’s completed, The Underline will be a $140 million, 10-mile linear park and urban trail that will stretch from Downtown Miami to Dadeland South. Three miles of it will be in Coral Gables, with sections open by mid-2025.
“You can’t feel the space until you’re in it,” said Daly, founder and president of Friends of the Underline. “It’s full of opportunity. We are taking something blighted and underutilized and giving it purpose.”
The first phase of the Underline, called Brickell Backyard, opened in February 2021. The second phase, also in the City of Miami, has been slowed by labor shortages and Florida Power & Light’s undergrounding of power lines.
Coral Gables residents can get a preview of what’s to come on June 1 when Friends of the Underline and the county host a public meeting in which a New York-based design team will reveal some features of the Gables’ section. Drawing on resident input, those features are likely to include pickleball and flex courts, a dog park at Le Jeune Road, a skatepark, a kayak drop and bridge over the waterway at Riviera Drive, landscaping with native trees and plants, and spaces for family programing and food sales. The evening meeting will be held at Temple Judea.
Work on the final seven-mile section of the 120-acre linear park, which includes the path through the Gables, could begin in September, according to Irene Hegedus, who is overseeing design and construction for the county’s Department of Transportation and public works.
The widest areas of the park are in Coral Gables, which means more space for the amenities, which will be paid for from a $7 million fund the city will contribute. Those dollars come from impact fees levied on developments within 1,000 feet of the Metrorail, a funding mechanism championed by Mayor Vince Lago, an enthusiastic supporter.
“The Underline will raise property values and connect the city to Miami and South Miami,” says Lago. “When you think of the Beltline or the Highline, these open people’s eyes to the importance of green space.”
“This park is going to be a sensational change for the whole area,” says Susi Davis, president of the Gables Good Government Committee, which recently invited Daly to give an update on the project.
Daly likes to say that “big projects should solve big problems,” one of which is to ensure the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians in a park running parallel to U.S. 1 and intersected by dozens of streets. Planners are still working on how to safeguard those crossings, says Hegedus.
Daly, retired from a 30-year career in sales and marketing, says that before her bike accident, “I never saw myself leading a nonprofit, or could have imagined a project like this. I have no technical skills. But I can talk, I can story-tell, build a logical business case, [and] I am not afraid of asking for help … Has [the Underline] taken over my life? Absolutely. Am I happy? Absolutely.”