Miamians are excited. The much-anticipated, long-awaited second phase of The Underline, Miami’s developing 10-mile linear park and multimodal path, opened on April 24.

I live a few blocks from this new “Hammock Trail,” connecting the half-mile Phase 1, “Brickell Backyard,” which opened in 2021, to north Coconut Grove.

Set in formerly underused land under and along Metrorail, this new segment stretches 2.14 miles from Coral Way to Southwest 19th Avenue, and serves historic and growing neighborhoods including West Brickell, The Roads, Silver Bluff and Shenandoah.

The area offers much-needed safe walking and biking trails, and also enhanced connectivity, public art, and thousands of native plants and trees.

“We’re excited to see how people engage with their now three total miles of park and trails connecting downtown to historic and vital neighborhoods,” says Meg Daly, founder of Friends of The Underline.

Resilient features include an additional 100,000 native plants and trees, bringing back butterflies, bees and birds; a 36 percent increase in tree shade canopy; Dark Sky compliant LED lighting to reduce light pollution; and green infrastructure with native landscaping.

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