The fenced rail corridor between SW 69th and 70th Avenues finally has a design team, a construction schedule, and a first phase on the map. That first phase is planned next to A.D. Barnes Park. The only finished piece of the corridor anyone has been able to walk is the short path at Bird Road. The 5.6-mile trail will run from Robert King High Park to Downtown Kendall, but for its first several years it will mostly be a Glenvar Heights-area amenity. The rest of the route depends on money the county has not yet secured.
What changed in 2026
For most of this year the project looked stalled. In early July, the Miami Herald reported on a campaign by advocates and current and former elected officials pressing the county for answers on a trail that had been in the works for two decades.
Two weeks later the county acted. On July 21, 2026, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved a five-year professional services contract with Kimley-Horn worth up to $9.53 million to design the full corridor. The Miami Herald reported that the vote was unanimous and that Mayor Daniella Levine Cava marked it with a video saying, "We're no longer talking about if the Ludlam Trail is happening. We're talking about how we're going to deliver it." Community News covered the approval in August and reported that public design meetings were expected later in the year.
The first of those meetings took place on October 5, 2026. Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces held it as an open house, with in-person comment cards and a virtual option. The county's project update presentation is the most complete public picture of where the project stands.
The schedule, as the county lays it out
The presentation lists land acquisition, planning, and the federal and state environmental studies as complete. It sets out this schedule:
- August 2026. The scheduled start of design for the entire trail. The county's project page says the design phase is now commencing.
- February 2027. Procurement starts, meaning the county begins the process of hiring a builder.
- Early 2028. Construction starts on the at-grade portion of Phase 1.
- 2028. The county expects to finish the at-grade portion of Phase 1 and to begin bridge construction.
- 2030. The first trail bridge is expected to be complete.
These are forecasts in a county presentation. They are not contract deadlines. On the day this post publishes, construction is still more than a year away. The county has not given a completion date for the full corridor.
Why Phase 1 lands here
Phase 1 runs beside A.D. Barnes Park and its facilities, between two of the corridor's development nodes. The county calls it the longest stretch current funding can pay for, with two bridges and one canal crossing included. In her July video, according to the Miami Herald, Mayor Levine Cava described the first phase as the segment between Bird Road and Coral Way and called it "fully funded."
The funding explains why the trail starts in one place and doesn't appear along the whole route at once:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Secured for design and Phase 1 construction | $47.8 million |
| Total estimated design and construction cost | $154.6 million |
| Current shortfall | $106.8 million |
The secured money comes from a mix of sources. The largest pieces are $14.3 million in mobility fees, $12.1 million in Florida Department of Transportation grants, and $11.6 million from the Ludlam Trail Trust Fund. Smaller amounts come from General Obligation Bond funds, county capital bonds, and a $1.25 million state appropriation for fiscal year 2026-27. That covers less than a third of the total. For now, the funded trail is the Bird Road to Coral Way stretch beside A.D. Barnes Park, and the remaining miles depend on how the shortfall gets closed.
The park is also central to the county's plans for access. The county's Ludlam Trail FAQ names A.D. Barnes Park as the trail's trailhead and its primary point of access. So the first phase to be built and the main way onto the finished trail are in the same place.
The quarter mile at Bird Road
The trail already has a preview near Bird Road. Developers built short trail sections as part of three residential and commercial projects on the corridor, and the rest of the county-owned land is still fenced and undeveloped, according to the Miami Herald's July report.
The best-documented of these sections runs about a quarter mile between the MiLine and Windsor Ludlam Trail apartment communities, just off Bird Road. When the Miami Herald visited in October 2023, it found people walking dogs and sitting on benches along the path.
Two restaurants sit beside this stretch along SW 40th Street:
- Thorn, the brewery and restaurant at MiLine, takes pickup orders at 6976 SW 40th Street.
- Sushi Sake, listed among Windsor's onsite retail, has its Ludlam location at 7004 SW 40th Street, Unit 2, with dine-in, pickup and delivery.
MiLine's own description of its retail also mentions a coffee bar and food-and-beverage containers. Taken together, the path with a brewery and a sushi counter beside it is a small version of what the county describes for the full trail: a route connecting parks, homes, workplaces and commercial areas.
Bird Road is where the trail goes up
The county's project page names the Bird Road and SW 40th Street node, with its overpass, as a major crossing on the corridor, and the county FAQ lists SR 976, SW 40th Street and Bird Road among its bridge locations. The October presentation included elevation drawings for three bridges, at Bird Road, SW 8th Street and Flagler Street. It also showed three ways of separating the trail's paths: a buffered separation, no separation, and a curbed planted divider. These are design concepts for Kimley-Horn to develop. They are not final plans.
The county's FAQ lists crossing features it will consider during design. These include rectangular rapid flashing beacons, pedestrian hybrid beacons, green bike crosswalks, refuge areas on multi-lane roads, bicycle leaning rails, overpass bridges, and lighting. Those choices matter most on Bird Road, where the trail meets one of the busiest streets in this part of the county.
Getting on the trail, now and later
The corridor runs between SW 69th and 70th Avenues, north from SW 80th Street. According to the county FAQ, access to the finished trail will mainly come from the 15 street crossings along the corridor, plus neighborhood connections. The route also crosses two canals, the Coral Gables (C-3) Canal and the Tamiami (C-4) Canal.
For parking, the FAQ lists:
- A.D. Barnes Park, 3401 SW 72nd Avenue, open to the public during normal park hours and planned as the primary trailhead.
- Robert King High Park, 7025 W Flagler Street, at the northern end.
- SW 80th Street at Davis Road and SW 56th Street at Miller Road, where ADA-accessible parking and trail access are being considered.
The county also says fencing along the corridor will come down after environmental remediation, and finished sections will open as they are completed. The first new piece to open is planned near A.D. Barnes Park.
The northern miles and the City of Miami
The corridor's northern end runs through the City of Miami, and the city has started to get involved. Miami Today reported in early October that the Miami City Commission would consider directing $5 million toward trail segments within city limits. A public meeting tracker reports that the commission approved the directive, as amended, 5-0 on October 8, 2026. According to the tracker, the money depends on a year-end surplus being available and is to be repaid from District 4 funds over five years.
Even if that money arrives, it would be a small share of the $106.8 million shortfall. The trail's place in the county's planned "Miami Loop" alongside the Underline depends on the northern segments. The stretch between Bird Road and Coral Way, beside A.D. Barnes Park, is the part that already has funding for design and construction.
Dates to watch
- Upcoming public design meetings. Kimley-Horn's work now moves toward construction documents for Phase 1, and the county timeline expects those to be complete in 2027.
- February 2027. Construction procurement begins.
- Early 2028. Construction is expected to start beside A.D. Barnes Park.
- 2030. The first bridge is expected to be complete.
Until then, the quarter mile off Bird Road between MiLine and Windsor is the closest thing to the finished trail, with Thorn and Sushi Sake beside it.
If you'd like to talk through how the Ludlam Trail's timeline relates to your own plans in Glenvar Heights or nearby, in English or Spanish, I'd be glad to listen. Leodan Leonel Leon offers a calm, unhurried conversation about what the corridor's next steps could mean for you. Request a Private Consultation.
