Miami-Dade County is the 7th most populous county in the U.S with 2.7 million residents, with Miami Dade Transit being the 15th largest public transit system in the United States and the largest transit agency in Florida, operating throughout Miami-Dade County, southern Broward County, and northern Monroe County. At the Florida Department of Transportation, District Six Planning and Environmental Management Office (District), we play a fundamental role in the transportation planning process in these counties and oversee a wide range of efforts and programs that lay the groundwork for transportation programming and project development. We pursued a TPCB peer exchange to help the District develop strategies to reduce the growth in vehicle demand along I-95, especially single occupant vehicles, while providing the commuters with additional urban mobility options that are cost and time efficient. This peer exchange will inform our strategies for the short and long-term operation of the I-95 corridor, with the purpose of improving the effectiveness of the I-95 managed lanes, and to further expand the transit modes and transit services offered in the corridor.

The Peer Exchange covered numerous topics to help us meet our planning challenges. The Exchange included sessions on:

• Successes and shortcomings of multimodal transportation, transportation demand management, and operations programming;
• Best practices for increasing engagement and coordination within and amongst regional and local authorities, and the public;
• Identifying and planning for the impacts of emerging transportation issues and technology; and
• Using new data/analysis efficiently and effectively.

As a result of the Peer Exchange, we feel like we can better identify and respond to the changing needs along the I-95 corridor, and implement context-sensitive solutions when needed. We feel better prepared to use new and existing relationships and tools to increase safety, efficiency and multimodality on the existing roadway, and to plan for the future.