
Florida project will connect the state’s third biggest airport to world’s third busiest cruise port.
Jacobs has been selected to provide programme management services for Broward County Transportation Department’s first-ever public transit expansion. The 30-year, $4.4bn programme will transform the county’s transportation infrastructure into a multimodal transit system with a new light rail route connecting Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Port Everglades in Florida.
Leveraging experience from similar complex infrastructure programmes, Jacobs will manage all programme services under its five-year, $17.5m contract with the county, from developing design criteria for the initial rail transit project to identifying ways to optimise system maintenance and operations.
In addition to light rail, the programme includes bus rapid transit and commuter rail as well as transit-oriented development and affordable housing. In 2018, county residents approved a one-percent transportation surtax to fund the programme.
Jacobs senior vice president Chrissy Thom said: “Public transit systems can do more than move people. They connect communities and stimulate economic development. Expanding these complex systems in a dense urban area like Broward County is challenging but critically necessary to meet South Florida’s growing population and immense tourism industry.”
In the past 14 years, more than 100,000 new residents have moved to Broward County making it one of America’s largest counties. By modernising transit infrastructure and developing mixed-use spaces with affordable housing options, the county hopes to further stimulate growth while making it easier for residents and visitors to travel not only from the airport to the port but throughout the region.