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Location Connections MiamiCentral (2017) Metrobus: 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 21, 51, 77, 93, 95, C (103), S (119), 120, 195, 207, 208, 246, 277 and 500 Broward County Transit (BCT): 95, 595,Taxicabs Address Miami, FL 33128, United States Owner Miami-Dade County, Florida Similar Stephen P Clark Center, Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre st, Dadeland South station, Earlington Heights station, Civic Center station | ||
Government Center station is an intermodal transit hub in the Government Center district of Downtown Miami, Florida. It is operated by Miami-Dade Transit and serves as an transfer station for the Metrorail and Metromover rapid transit systems and as a bus station for Metrobus, Paratransit, and Broward County Transit buses. The station is located near the intersection of Northwest First Street and First Avenue, a part of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center Building. It opened to service May 20, 1984, next to the site of former FEC railway station.
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Florida East Coast Railroad station
Next to Government Center site was originally a railroad station developed in April 1896 as the southern terminus of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). The downtown passenger terminal was demolished by November 1963. Although a new station was planned at the Buena Vista yard near North Miami Avenue and 36th Street (US 27), it was never built. The site of the old station was parking lots on the east side of the modern transportation hub until 2014. It is now the construction site of the MiamiCentral station of All Aboard Florida's Brightline.
Metrorail and Metromover station
Development of the civic center was reinvigorated during the 1970s and early 1980s during a Downtown building boom. The boom spurred the development and construction the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, Metrorail, Metromover, and the Miami-Dade Cultural Plaza, which currently includes the Miami Art Museum, the Historical Museum of Southern Florida and the Miami Main Library.
Construction on the present-day Government Center station began in June 1982. The station was primarily designed by the Cambridge Seven Associates in collaboration with Edward D. Stone. The station was built by the Frank J. Rooney Construction Company. Metrorail service, between Overtown and Kendall, following the precise route of the FEC, commenced service May 1984.
An unused, partially completed ghost platform for a future East-West Metrorail line is adjacent to the west side of the mezzanine level below the current Metrorail station and is easily visible to passengers transferring from Metromover to Metrorail. This platform was part of the original design concept which interfaced with the atrium of the Miami-Dade County Administration Building, and the people mover station.
Levels
The first floor of the Government Center complex is on the ground level of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, which has access to the second level, and the Downtown (Inner) Loop platform of Metromover.
The second floor of the Government Center complex includes the main fare control for Metrorail and operations of the metro system, along with 2 Metromover side metromover platforms. The Brickell and Omni Loop Metromover lines are accessible directly from this level, while the Downtown Loop can only be accessed by the mezzanine or ground level. It also features the Metrofare Shops area, which are open most weekdays until mid-afternoon and closed weekends and federal holidays.
The third floor of the complex is a mezzanine for Metrorail and Metromover trains. Access to the Metrorail platform above and both Metromover platforms below provides for easy transfers. A ghost platform for the never built east-west line is located on the floor.
The fourth floor of the complex is the Metrorail Orange and Green Line platform. This section of the station is composed of 2 tracks (one for southbound trains and one for northbound trains) and 1 island platform. It is the highest transit platform of the Miami-Dade Transit system in height and can hold up to 8 Metrorail cars. The station is equipped with WI-FI, escalators, and elevators to the mezzanine level, which provides access to Metromover platforms and the second level.
Future
The Florida East Coast Railway still owns the land alongside the current Government Center station and is returning inter-city rail service to the site with an intermodal transit hub serviced by their Brightline service to Downtown West Palm Beach and a newly-introduced SFRTA Tri-Rail Downtown Miami Link line to West Palm Beach at Mangonia Park in 2017.