MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A broken Skytrain, elevators, escalators and moving walkways on the fritz and general infrastructure in disrepair have plagued the Miami International Airport in recent years.
On Thursday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava promised to turn things around with $7 billion in capital improvements and $1.7 million in maintenance upgrades.
Blaming deferred improvements for the state of the airport, the mayor promised repairs in the terminal and parking garages and on the Skytrain inside Concourse D.
“Unfortunately, this airport did not have that level of investment for too many years. So we know elevators and escalators (are the) primary issue and we’ve been working hard on that,” Levine Cava said. “It took us two years to change out the contract and get a contract that could work weekends 24/7 to move forward aggressively.”
“It’s already 2024,” Local 10 News reporter Janine Stanwood said. “Why does it seem like not a whole lot has happened?”
“Well, actually, a lot is going on and we have demonstrated the level of investment,” the mayor replied. “We are within industry norms on the number of elevators out of service, which is about 8% of the total.”
Levine Cava conceded that the airport could use better signage to direct passengers to working elevators.
She said the Skytrain may be back online by April.
Former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, now a U.S. congressman, plans to respond to Levine Cava’s comments regarding his administration Friday, a spokesperson says.