Ludlam Trail | Miami, FL

The Friends of Ludlam Trail is a grassroots campaign of bicycle and pedestrian advocates, conservationists, and community residents seeking to transform a partially abandoned railroad located on the historic Florida East Coast railway into a world-class linear park and trail. The trail offers enormous potential for a new commuter corridor that directly connects to 5 schools, 4 parks, 2 transit hubs, and numerous shopping and neighborhood districts offering safe and convenient travel for 100,000 people living within a half mile of the corridor. 

 

Street Plans Principal, Tony Garcia, is the co-founder and former chairman of the board for the campaign. Tony, along with the Street Plans Miami office, provides numerous pro-bono services for the campaign including public engagement, graphics, event planning, grant writing, and mediation between the railroad property owners, residents, and Miami-Dade County. 

 

The most significant accomplishment thus far has been the successful completion of a formal charrette process that provided the community with the opportunity to have a voice on what the future of this corridor would look like. According to Miami-Dade County officials, the Ludlam Trail charrette was the largest attended charrette process in county history! With all stakeholders at the table, a compromise was made for 75% of the corridor to be preserved for green space with a bicycle and pedestrian trail. 25% of the land would be dedicated to mixed-use development with a further guarantee that the trail would remain continuous throughout the entire 6.2 miles. 

 

Beginning in September 2015, FoLT and FECI established a formal partnership to enact Ludlam Days, a year-long series of events that would welcome the entire Miami community to begin building and utilizing the corridor in the short-term, while long-term efforts are underway regarding land acquisition, linear park design, and construction. The first major success of Ludlam Days was the unveiling of the Ludlam Trail exhibit located at Coral Gables Museum, curated and designed by the Street Plans Team.