15 visit four European nations to study transportation technology

Board members of Miami-Dade’s Transportation Planning Organization are embarked on a 15-person, eight-day trip to Boston and four European nations to learn about emerging technologies that could be used in the county.

The trip includes Boston (July 8 and 9), Paris (July 11 and 12), Wessling, Germany (July 13), Madrid (July 14), and London (July 15).

The travel has a price tag of $8,264 per person. The TPO financial participation fee is to cover the expenses of only three board members: county Commissioner Oliver G. Gilbert III, the TPO’s chairman; Steven D. Losner, mayor Homestead; and county Commissioner Jean Monestime, who is attending only the European Union portion.

“The trip is open to other stakeholders and staff. However, their expenses are not covered by the TPO,” an organization spokeswoman told Miami Today in an email.

The TPO Governing Board adopted the participation fee for non-county commission TPO board members to provide funding for board-authorized activities, the spokesperson said. The current participation fee is $22,222 annually.

The participation fee was first established in 2017 for non-county government entities with voting membership on the TPO board to participate in federal and state advocacy activities and support hosting peer-to-peer exchanges.

Attendees include Aileen Bouclé, TPO executive director; Alix Desulme, City of North Miami vice mayor; Mary Estimé-Irvin, City of North Miami councilwoman; Linda Julien, Miami Gardens councilwoman; and Pinecrest Mayor Joseph M. Corradino, the immediate past president of the Miami-Dade County League of Cities.

Also, Zainab Salim, TPO program administrator; Rupen Philloura, division director of terminal operations of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department; and Mitchell Bierman, former chair of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee and Miami Office managing director of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman law firm.

Also attending are Brandon Fennell, commission aide for County Commission District 1; Louis Antoine, community liaison for District 2; and Donntay Cooper, director of policy and legislation for District 9. Kelly Blake, commission aide for District 9, was to attend only the Boston meetings.

“I recommend a transportation peer exchange to include Board Member forum participation on emerging technologies, as well as meeting with officials to review and evaluate projects consistent with TPO Governing Board directives for the evaluation of bus transit tunnels and urban air mobility,” Chairman Oliver G. Gilbert wrote in a memorandum.

The trip agenda includes a project tour with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and staff of the Boston Silver Line; a peer exchange with the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization; and a peer exchange with the Société du Grand Paris, responsible for designing and building the Grand Paris Express.

The European agenda also has a tunneling project review of the 6.1 kilometers and up to depths of 43 meters Bouygues EOLE GC Tunnel; an urban air mobility project of Lilium, a German aerospace company with which former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez met in October 2018 to discuss using the company’s electric air taxis here; a meeting with the Spanish State Agency for Air Safety; and a meeting with Eve Air Mobility, a company that produces electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft and urban air mobility infrastructure.

The Transportation Planning Organization has already expressed interest in studying tunneling technologies. In August 2021 the organization began a study that was completed in February evaluating emerging technologies to assess the implementation of tunnel corridors in the county.

Urban air mobility options have also been of interest to current Miami-Dade officials. For instance, last November commissioners directed Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s administration to create a working group focused on developing an implementation plan for an Urban Air Mobility System.