Future Projects
MDX State Road 874 Ramp Connector
MDX has commenced a Concept Project Report to evaluate the potential of a new ramp connection from SR 874 (Don Shula Expressway) to SW 136th Street at SW 127th Avenue. SR 874 currently ends at the interchange with SR 821/Florida’s Turnpike/HEFT. This new ramp connection would provide an additional expressway access and mobility to the area. The Concept Report will confirm the need and benefits to be provided by this connection, identify potential corridors and alignments as well as potential environmental impacts. As part of the Concept Study a public involvement program will take place to inform and provide an opportunity to receive input from the neighboring community. [more...]
- MDX 87410 Fact Sheet.pdf[.pdf]
Open Road Tolling
It is the future of toll collection on busy expressways across the country and MDX is leading Florida into the future of transportation technology. Open Road Tolling will give you the freedom to drive straight through a toll collection point without having to stop or slow down. There is no need to search for change to pay the toll or decrease your speed as you approach the tolling area. The future of tolling is an open road expressway that automatically deducts your user fee without you have doing to anything beyond driving straight through it.
Just imagine:
400 cars can pass through a manned toll booth per hour
1200 cars can pass through a SunPass dedicated lane per hour
2200 cars can pass through an Open Road Tolling lane per hour
Although open road tolling lanes are innovations of the near future, MDX continues to prove itself as the Authority for Mobility in Miami-Dade by bringing this state-of-the-art technology to South Florida. The High Speed Express Sunpass Lanes on SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway) Eastbound, known as The Wing, are a component of Open Road Tolling and the first of its kind for any urban setting in the state of Florida. SunPass users can go through these high speed lanes at highway speeds and the electronic payment is automatically deducted.
The first full Open Road Tolling pilot project will be the SR 836 Extension Project where a new segment of expressway will be opened as an electronic only facility and a 25 cent toll will be collected through an overhead gantry allowing for an open road with no toll plaza. It is just a matter of time before all toll plazas disappear and tolling is accomplished through a series of gantries or tolling points that will t make your travels on the expressways free-flowing. Most importantly and you will only be charged for the portion of the road you travel making it more equitable for all users.
Presently users of MDX toll roads pay when they go through a plaza regardless of how much of the road they use. For example if you use SR 836 and you get on at 87th Avenue you pay a dollar or a dollar twenty five when you go through the toll plaza. A user that gets on the system at 27th Avenue pays the same amount although they have used the expressway for a shorter distance. Someone can actually use the expressway and pay nothing. In fact only 15 % of the users of SR 836 pay a toll. Systemwide in all of MDX expressways only 28% pay a toll.
With Open Road Tolling everyone would pay a partial toll commensurate to the portion of the road they use. This means that users driving a shorter distance can technically pay less than the one dollar they are paying today. Those not paying anything would pay some portion of the toll depending of the distance they drive.
The way this works is, tolls would be collected electronically by a series of overhead gantries along the expressway, so there would be no toll plazas but just an open road. This would make the drive safer and easier. Technology advances would allow for an inexpensive transponder available to all that can be used in the same fashion as a phone card which would be anonymous and easy to replenish.
The concept of Open Road Tolling would establish a system wide user fee equalizing tolls for all users of the facilities. The monies collected would then be used to pay for unfunded needs and improvements to the system which includes SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway), SR 112 (Airport Expressway) SR 874 (Don Shula Expressway) SR 878 (Snapper Creek Expressway) and SR 924 (Gratigny Parkway).
MDX has approved an MDX Open Road Tolling Master Plan that is looking at technology and to designing a multi-year community outreach effort to implement this new concept. Prior to the approval the implementation of ORT a series of Public Reviews and Public Hearings will be held.
- MDX Open Road Tolling Master Plan 2007-2011[.pdf]
- Open Road Tolling - Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee [.pdf]
2025 Master Transportation Plan
MDX Master Transportation Plan is the long range plan that guides future projects and is a part of the Miami-Dade County Metropolitan Urbanized Area Long Range Transportation Plan. MDX updates its Master Transportation Plan every five years within the same cycle that Miami-Dade County updates their Long Range Transportation Plan.
Presently there are two projects included in the 2025 Master Transportation Plan. They are:
SR 924 (Gratigny Parkway) Extension West to the Tunrpike, and
SR 874 (Don Shula) Extension to SW 136 Street
MDX also proposed to incorporate an proposed extension of SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway) South to the Kendall area but it required additional analysis and study. Presently MDX is in the process of preparing a Concept Report to evaluate the feasibility of this project.
