by Brian Major
Last updated: 3:35 PM ET, Thu October 5, 2023
Travelers
traversing Miami International Airport’s lengthy corridors will have to surmount
another obstacle: the Airport’s Skytrain, which transports 9,000 passengers from
the main concourse to the facility’s furthest gates, has been shut down indefinitely
due to structural concerns, according to local media reports.
Miami-Dade
County engineers recently discovered “accelerated deterioration” of concrete
structures supporting the Skytrain’s elevated tracks.
The concrete
structure showed evidence of “extensive structural cracking,” according to a
September 15 report from an engineer working for representing county contractor
HNTB, the Miami Herald reported.
Operators at
the county-owned airport closed the Skytrain, which operates within the Airport’s Concourse D, at midnight on the same day.
There is no
official timetable for when the Skytrain will be operational again, according
to a Miami Times report.
Skytrain
passengers now face the prospect of walking up to a mile to reach their gate,
although airport spokesperson Greg Chin told a local television station that shuttle buses will be available to take travelers to their
gates.
An analysis
of the structural problems is underway and is expected to extend through mid-October,
according to the New Times report. Airport officials will decide on necessary
repairs and potential short-term solutions following the analysis.
The Skytrain
opened in 2010 as part of a $3 billion Miami International expansion that
consolidated four concourses into one main concourse, the present-day Concourse
D, a major international hub for American Airlines, that extends one mile end-to-end
and takes about 30 minutes to walk.
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