page_title: Miami Intermodal Center
section_title: Phase I: Metrorail and MIA Mover
hierarchical_section_title: Miami Intermodal Center / History / Planning / Phase I: Metrorail and MIA Mover
caption_attribution_description: English: Frontage of the Miami Central Station
context_page_description: Miami Intermodal Center is an intermodal rapid transit, commuter rail, intercity rail, local bus, and intercity bus transportation hub in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, just outside the City of Miami limits near the Grapeland Heights neighborhood. The facility was constructed by the Florida Department of Transportation and is owned by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.
  The MIC is located on Northwest 21st Street near North Douglas Road, east of Le Jeune Road and Miami International Airport, and south of the Miami River and the Airport Expressway. It is currently served by Tri-Rail, Metrorail, the MIA Mover, Metrobus, Greyhound Lines, and may possibly be served by Amtrak in the future. The station portion of the MIC is signed as Miami International Airport on Metrorail and Miami Airport Station on Tri-Rail. It would have appeared as "Miami" on Amtrak timetables.
  The MIC's rental car center opened on July 13, 2010. The MIA Mover began to operate at the MIC on September 9, 2011, followed by Metrorail on July 28, 2012. Tri-Rail and Greyhound began using it on April 5, 2015.
context_section_description: Phase I of the Miami Airport Station consisted of the construction of two connected terminal stations: one for the new Metrorail spur, and one for the MIA Mover, a 1.25 miles (2.01 km) elevated people mover line connecting the airport terminals to the MIC. A groundbreaking for the MIA Mover was held on March 1, 2009, followed by one for the Metrorail spur on May 1. After two years of construction the MIA Mover station received a certificate of occupancy in January 2011, allowing final systems to be installed. The MIA Mover opened on September 9, 2011, replacing the shuttle buses.
   
  The Metrorail station, covered in a stainless steel and aluminum canopy, has a Metrobus station integrated into its ground level. The structure was manufactured in Kansas City, shipped in modular sections, and assembled on site. Foundations for the Metrorail viaduct were completed in early 2010, with the beams and tracks installed over the rest of the year. By February 2011, the extension was 75% complete, with most of the station structure in place. The bridge over the Miami River was completed in March 2011. Finishes, glass walls, and canopies were installed in the station in mid-2011. Testing of Metrorail trains on the extension began in January 2012. The spur to the MIC opened as the Orange Line on July 28, 2012. The final cost of the Metrorail extension was $506 million, of which $405 million was from sales tax and $101 million from FDOT.
  In the first few years, Metrorail ridership was lower than expected, starting below 1,500 daily and increasing to nearly 2,000 daily by 2015-2016, though notably, ridership was almost equally high on weekends, where most stations have about half the ridership on weekends.
caption: The Metrorail station under construction in June 2011. The old Tri-Rail station, not yet closed, is at bottom left.
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