Miami-Dade Commission to discuss $245 million South Dade Transit station

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The Miami-Dade Commission will consider spending more than $245 million to build the South Dade Transit Operations Center to improve efficiency for bus routes serving the southern part of the county, particularly the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) busway under construction along U.S. 1. The county has already identified a 20-acre site at Southwest 27th Avenue and Biscayne Drive in Homestead.

According to the county website, the new, 219,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, one-of-a-kind bus depot will serve as a home base to maintain, energize and operate a new fleet of 100 “articulated 60-foot battery-electric buses,” which are those long, accordion type guaguas. The closest maintenance facility on Coral Way was about 30 miles from the busway and, besides not having the capacity or infrastructure to house, power or maintain the new fleet, would cause for a long turnaround trip. The new facility will reportedly have all the necessary equipment on site — as well as office space for more than 100 county employees from the transit and public works department.

“The facility will contain electric vehicle charging infrastructure equipment that allows for overhead charging of the fleet,” reads a memo to the commission from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. When the South Dade BRT Transitway begins operating in 2025, it will be the largest fleet of electric buses in operation in the country, Levine Cava said. 

The mayor has recommended that the county award the contract to NV2A Dragados JV, which came in with the lowest bid, which was still almost 13% higher than the county’s cost estimate. Three contractors submitted bids by the deadline last December. The second lowest bidder, Lemartec Corporation, provided a bid that was 15% higher than the cost estimate. The third bidder, OHLA Building, offered a bid that was 51% higher than the estimate.

NV2A Dragados seems to be a joint venture between the New York-based Dragados USA and local NV2A Group, where Gilberto Neves, former CEO of Oderbrecht USA, is president and CEO.

The funding will come from the People’s Transportation Plan or half penny surtax that was supposed to pay for MetroRail expansion. This is plan B.

The facility — shown on a county video on YouTube with a virtual rendition tour — will include not only operational and administrative offices, bus wells, parts storage and repair, paint and wash lanes but also a two-story parking garage with about 252 employee and visitor spaces and a pedestrian bridge connecting the employee parking and operations building. The project also includes solar paneling, drainage improvements, landscaping additions and roadway widening in the surrounding area.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2026.

  transit