Meg Daly walked home from a train station in Miami one day and had an inspiration that could change how people look at parks in the future.

First of all, she wasn’t looking at the ground. She looked up. At the Metrorail mass transit line running overhead and realized that the concrete structure holding the tracks created a nice shady spot below.

For anybody who has ever lived or visited Florida, you know shade is precious. Meg had an idea – if there are miles of shade underneath Metrorail, wouldn’t this make a great elongated park where people could walk, bicycle or relax?

“I lived in Miami my whole life and never really experienced that moment under the Metrorail. In that moment I realized just how much land was there,” she said. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we do something spectacular with this space and return it to the people?”

Fast forward a few years and now Meg heads the private side of a project to create a park called the “The Underline.” When completed, it will be a beautiful 10-mile stretch of native landscaping and an urban trail weaving through three cities, numerous neighborhoods and directly under the train.

She is working in conjunction with the Miami-Dade Department of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces which directed the design vision for the project and will oversee the project development and construction.

“This project is the result of a public/private collaboration between Miami Dade County Transportation, Public Works and Parks, the Recreation and Open Spaces Department and Friends of the Underline,” said Maria I. Nardi, Assistant Director of Planning and Design Excellence, who noted this project is part of the Miami-Dade County Parks Masterplan Greenway network that consists of 500 miles of trails and connected public green spaces.

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