FL: Tunnel vs. bridge debate: Fort Lauderdale hopes truce is on way for commuter rail

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis claims the county appears to be warming to the idea of building a tunnel instead of a bridge to get commuter trains across the New River.

“Now it seems they’re not so much against the tunnel as they are now trying to seek what sources of funding are available,” he said during a recent commission meeting. “I do think it’s a step forward.”

In the past, the two governments have locked horns over whether to build a tunnel or bridge. Trantalis has argued a bridge would destroy downtown. But the final decision will fall to the county, whose officials have said they prefer a less expensive bridge.

Both government bodies plan to hold a joint meeting as soon as next month to debate the issue.

“We are going to try to meet as soon as possible,” Broward Mayor Beam Furr told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “There is some urgency to this. We want to get it going.”

Trantalis and Furr met one-on-one over breakfast recently.

“Here’s where there is agreement,” Furr said. “There is agreement to go forward with a local preferred alternative as long as it doesn’t specify a bridge or a tunnel. And what that does is give us time to figure this out while getting our place in line for federal funding.”

In a recent newsletter, Trantalis shared concrete reasons why a bridge is a bad idea, saying the county would have to build four bridges and demolish two.

“They build a temporary bridge for freight service to use as they demolish the existing drawbridge, then they build a new bridge for the freight service at water level and demolish the temporary bridge, and finally they build 40-feet-tall bridges for passenger service,” Trantalis said in his newsletter. “All these bridges apparently cost $420 million, even though the state once projected one new bridge would cost that amount.”

In addition, Southwest Fifth Street would be permanently closed and Southwest Second Street would be impassable for truck traffic, Trantalis said.

Broward Mayor Beam Furr took the arguments in stride.

“Each endeavor has its challenges,” Furr said. “Building a bridge has its challenges but there’s a ton of challenges with a tunnel. And our job is to wade through all that and make a decision that makes sense for the long term. We could come back and give reasons not to build a tunnel. What we really need to do is work together on this to go forward.”

The county is prepared to spend up to $250 million on a bridge, Furr said. The feds would kick in half the cost and the state would match the county’s contribution.

“If they can get a tunnel done for that amount, then it’s a possibility,” Furr said.

According to a consultant hired by Fort Lauderdale, a 1.1-mile twin-bore train tunnel would cost around $888 million. With inflation, the cost could rise to $1 billion, Trantalis said.

In his newsletter, Trantalis says he and senior city staff traveled to Washington, D.C., to engage in discussions with Meridiam, a French company that helped build the award-winning tunnel that links downtown Miami to the Port of Miami.

The twin tunnels, 42 feet in diameter and some 120 feet below sea level, opened more than a decade ago in August 2014.

The project cost taxpayers $643 million, with the total cost coming in at $1.1 billion, taking into account financing and maintenance costs over 30 years. The state contributed $650 million, Miami-Dade County contributed $402 million and the city of Miami $50 million.

“We hope Meridiam will start a dialogue with the county and the Florida Department of Transportation about building the tunnel as a public-private partnership,” Trantalis wrote. “This approach, also known as a P3, is how they built the port tunnel for Miami. That project came in under budget and ahead of schedule with the work occurring in a geotechnical environment very similar to that in Fort Lauderdale.”

In their meeting with Meridiam, city officials discussed the problematic nature of a bridge, including its impact on the marine industry and surrounding street-level traffic.

“Imagine hundreds of additional trains crossing through downtown,” Trantalis wrote. “Broward Boulevard and other major arteries would face frequent traffic tie-ups as trains cross by, and the bridge would be down so frequently that boatyards upriver would lose substantial business because they’d be unable to move yachts in and out.”

But the debate over whether to build a bridge or tunnel will be moot if there’s no federal funding — and that’s a real possibility, Commissioner John Herbst said.

“I think any chance of getting any real funding out of the federal government is probably going up in smoke,” he said. “The last thing I read in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ talking about them funding train projects was (about how there’s) not a snowball’s chance in hell. If there’s no federal funds for this, I think we’re all wasting our time. And that’s bridge or tunnel. I think that ship may have sailed.”

Trantalis had this response: “You may be right. It would be unfortunate if that’s the case. But let’s still have our conversations and see where we go with this.”

Vice Mayor Steve Glassman agreed.

“I’m not that pessimistic about it,” Glassman said. “I still think there are enough people that have enough say and connections. And I think we’re going to have to maybe rely on some partners and look at new ways of going about this. But I still think it’s worth the effort.”

Does the mayor of Broward County have concerns that federal funding might dry up?

“I don’t think we know yet,” Furr said. “I think it’s too early to say, ‘There’s no chance.’”

©2025 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Visit sun-sentinel.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.