MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Amid the holiday travel season, work is continuing at Miami International Airport to modernize and fix its infrastructure.
Miami International Airport Director Ralph Cutie showed Local 10 News how crews are replacing the guts of a moving walkway: the rollers, the treads, the boards.
Thanksgiving weekend in Concourse E highlighted how just one broken conveyance can spell travel misery.
It’s been nearly a year since the county announced it was taking action after years of neglect.
Fifteen percent of elevators, escalators, and people movers weren’t working. Now, just 5% are down to either be replaced or repaired.
“We’ve come a long way since then,” Cutie said.
Bathrooms are being modernized with touchless features.
Vintage ticket counters in the nearly 80-year-old central terminal will soon be replaced thanks to grant money.
Some self-bag drop stations are already operational and will stay when the entire terminal is eventually gutted.
A new parking garage is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
The airport has also hired staff to monitor problems in real-time.
“A lot of these pieces of equipment weren’t in bad shape 10 years ago. A lot of this deferred maintenance we’re addressing now,” Cutie said. “That’s the biggest challenge. We have to continue to do all these transformational projects while at the same time operating (and) rapidly becoming one of the busiest airports in the country, if not the world.”
MIA’s Skytrain people mover system had to be closed and repaired at one point. Part of it is still not operational and repairs are underway.