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Appearing on a recent Mobility Matters podcast, Alex Lastra, a member of the Florida Transportation Commission and real estate developer, explained to viewers the relationship between transit and housing – and how each provides benefits that help one another and the local economy.
“The first thing when we consider real estate development is the transportation component,” Lastra said. “A lot of the workforce housing we’re doing now is based around the transit stations, transit-oriented development.”
With transit-oriented development people can get from their homes to work easily. This lowers the amount of automobile traffic on the roads. There are lower parking requirements, which saves developers money, making housing more affordable.
“It’s absolutely interrelated,” Lastra confirmed.
Lastra, who serves as one of nine members of the Florida Transportation Commission, said Miami is unique in Florida when it comes to spending money on transportation projects.
“Miami-Dade County really is not that much about building roads. It’s how do we move people around efficiently and effectively – getting them off the streets. The biggest challenge that we face and that we work on constantly is that the rest of the state is not used to the idea of not building roads. The Department of Transportation and the gas tax – typically that money is being used to build roads,” he said. “It’s a constant exercise to convince everybody we are not like the rest of the state.
“We need to focus some dollars on transit solutions and other mechanisms to get to get people around, so I think that’s what I work on mostly from my seat in this district.”
Lastra also discussed the issues facing expansion of transit in Miami-Dade County and the planned six corridors of the county’s Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Program.
“Some of the issues that are being discussed now (are for example) – the East-West Corridor. I think East-West is still a challenge we haven’t met yet. And they’re working on the Northeast Corridor now. We have Tri-Rail going into Ddowntown so there are some options going north to sSouth. We are looking at the 27th 27th Avenue. SMART rail extension. We’re doing the South Dade bus rapid transit. I know there are some pros and cons but that’s going to happen, and I think it’s providing another avenue to get people from the south.”
Mobility Matters airs every other Thursday between 9 and a.m. – 10 a.m. View the podcast on our the Facebook page at: Facebook.com/TransportationTrustFacebook.com/TransportationTrust.
You also can also visit www.miamidade.gov/CITT to learn more about CITT’s ongoing efforts to oversee your “half-penny” sales tax for transportation and ensure the continued implementation of the People’s Transportation Plan.
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