The High Line’s co-designer wins contract for The Underline in Miami

A local jury in Miami has selected New York-based architectural firm James Corner Field Operations to design the master plan for The Underline bike route and lineal park.

The vision for The Underline is a 10-mile urban trail and park that would replace the underutilized M-Path, a bike path under the Metrorail tracks, from the Dadeland South Station to Brickell Station, and extend to the Miami River. It would connect communities, improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, create acres of new green space, and attract development along US 1.

The Miami Herald reports that Field Operations will design the overall plan under a $500,000 contract that is funded by the cities of Miami, South Miami, and the Gables, along with the Knight Foundation, the Miami Foundation, the Health Foundation of South Florida and the Mitchell Wolfson Foundation.

Field Operations’ submission was chosen among entries from 19 firms.

The architect was the co-designer of the 1.45-mile High Line park, which sits atop an abandoned elevated railway on Manhattan’s West Side. Its master plan for The Underline is due in September. (A year ago, The University of Miami School of Architecture devoted a studio class of 10 students—under the direction of Professor Rocco Ceo and assisted by Arquitectonica’s Raymond Fort—and to create a preliminary concept plan for The Underline.)

The Herald reports that public and private financing sources for construction of this project have yet to be identified. The project is expected to take a decade to complete.

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