Miami Dade County Mayor Daniella Cava, the Department of Transportation and Public Works and Friends of The Underline celebrate the opening of The Underline’s Phase 2, with a formal ribbon cutting on April 24th at Vizcaya Metrorail Station at 10 AM. The second segment of The Underline, a planned 10-mile linear park and multimodal path connecting to Metrorail, connects the half mile Phase 1, Brickell Backyard, which has been open since 2021 to north Coconut Grove at SW 19th Avenue.   

Phase 2 is 2.14 miles long and serves a number of historic and growing neighborhoods including West Brickell, The Roads, Silver Bluff and Shenandoah. In addition to the new, safe offroad biking and walking paths, there are numerous crosswalk improvements, LED lighting, bike parking and repair facilities, 100,000 native plants and trees, creating a pollinator corridor, new additions to the growing public art trail and three amenity areas.   

Amenity areas: 

Hammock Playground: at SW 15th Road and SW 1st Avenue. This nature-inspired playground adjacent to the preserved Hardwood Hammock at Simpson Park has separated play areas for younger and older children, lush native landscaping, Leaning Arches sculpture by Athena Tacha, a new “Social Bench” by Jeppe Hein funded by Louis Wolfson, III, and the Knight Foundation and two murals coming later this year funded by the Hearst Foundations. The Hammock Playground Plaza. which will be activated with family-friendly programming, is sponsored by Publix Super Markets Charities.

Vizcaya Station Plaza: Located at the Vizcaya Metrorail Station, this newly renovated plaza area features free community programs and a UMeditate area for a virtual meditation session. Plus, it provides an important connection to Vizcaya, an historic museum and gardens built by James Deering.  

Rain Garden: At SW 17th Avenue and US1, the rain garden is one block long and is the first of many future bioswales, green infrastructure to offset flooding and stormwater impacts with a planting strategy combining drought and flood tolerant plants with permeable rock beds and ponds.   

The third and final seven-mile phase of The Underline began construction in late 2023 and will open in segments in 2025 and 2026.  For more information about The Underline visit theunderline.org.   

Rather than using artificial systems for flood management, this alternative involves dry rock-lined swales.  These rain gardens are natural flood mitigation systems, temporarily collecting stormwater in rocky shallow areas and utilizing multiple sediment layers to filter out pollutants. The depressed rock gardens manage stormwater and filter it as it seeps into the aquifer. Dry rock-lined swales offer innovative flood management while showcasing environmental resilience and sustainability education. Additional features like insect hotels, bird houses, and elevated pathways enhance the exploration of these innovative systems.  
 

“For The Underline, the community’s priorities are the same: safety, nature and community.  The Underline’s Phase 2, Hammock Trail delivers on what the community wants and deserves.  An additional 2 miles of lush, native restorative landscaping to improve resiliency, safe urban trails to walk, bike, run or stroll and a playground for play for free family programs.  We are excited to see how people engage with their now three total miles of park and trails connecting downtown to historic and vital neighborhoods.” Said Meg Daly, Founder and CEO of Friends of The Underline.