Miami-Dade, FL Eyes Rail to Carry Away Solid Waste

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): As Mayor Daniella Levine Cava tells county commissioners that she is looking into new ways of handling Miami-Dade’s solid waste and the Transportation Planning Organization is seeking a rail revival in the county, a county resolution seeks to look at using the new rail service to haul solid waste. A resolution by Commissioner Raquel Regalado due before the county commission June 6 would ask the mayor to explore “the feasibility of utilizing railroad corridors for the transportation and transfer of solid waste and freight within and outside of the county.”

Transferring solid waste out of the county entirely could be a solution to the dilemma of what to do about replacing the county’s 41-year-old waste-to-energy plant in Doral that was put out of action by a fire this year and was in any case due to be replaced. Doral residents have been up in arms about the county’s most recent plan, which was to build a new incinerator beside the old one.

The proposal by Commissioner Regalado would rest in part on the restoration of CSX freight rail service in the county. Discussions in commission committee and the Transportation Planning Organization seek formal negotiations with CSX owners to allow commuter rail rapid transit on their now-dormant county lines by incentivizing the railway with favorable zoning changes along its right-of-way that would make freight service restoration attractive. There has been no formal announcement of talks that could lead to such an end.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com