Curbed Miami was given the grand tour of the Port of Miami tunnel today by none other than the vice president of the whole tunnel operation himself Christopher Hodgkins. After strapping on steel toed boots, a reflective safety vest, a hard hat, and safety glasses, we boarded a bobcat in the village of construction trailers to the side of the gaping tunnel's maw on Watson Island, and hit the road. These 53 pictures document our journey through this mighty infrastructural marvel.
The bobcat swerved under the MacArthur Causeway, popped up to the middle of the causeway through a special temporary access road and, seemingly without hesitation, dove down into the tunnel like a theme park ride. As Chris zipped along, the tunnel's massiveness, its high ceilings, and its length became apparent. We dove, dove, dove down wayyyy under Government Cut, with cruise ships floating straight above our heads, then rose up, up, up, up, and hey, we were at the port. Then, weeeeee! Back down, down, down we went through the second tube, and up, up, up, until... Well, hello Ms. Harriet! Although both of the tunnel's tubes have been completely dug, the tail end of the tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Harriet after Harriet Tubman, still has not yet been removed, and so of course we climbed up her butt.
But the ground under Harriet was a bit mucky, so instead of doing some serious offroading on the bobcat to leave the tunnel we turned around and headed back, down, down, down and then up, up, up, and again down, down, down and up, up, up and once again popped out of the gapping maw. Finally, steel toed boots returned, bobcat left, and back in the air-conditioned comfort of an actual car, the last stop was to see the leftover parts of dear old dead Harriet, in a sort of temporary Harriet graveyard. Goodbye Harriet old girl. You served us well.
The tunnel will open to automotive traffice in May 2014.
· Port of Miami Tunnel coverage [Curbed Miami]
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