Staff Reports
The Becker lobbying team is celebrating its involvement in securing a $160 million contract on behalf of Siemens to modernize Miami-Dade’s traffic system.
The Miami-Dade County Commission officially approved the contract in May.
Miami-Dade officials have worked to improve the region’s traffic light system to help deal with heavy congestion in various parts of the county.
Many traffic light systems are programmed ahead of time, based on standard traffic patterns during different parts of the day. The Siemens system would be computerized and use cameras to respond to real-time traffic patterns instead.
If an area is more or less congested than anticipated, traffic flow would be adjusted accordingly.
“We are elated that the commissioners selected Siemens for the job,” said Jose Fuentes, Becker’s lead government law and lobbying shareholder.
“This project is a game-changer for Miami-Dade County and will make a huge impact: traffic lights will automatically be more responsive to conditions at intersections and ease congestion. The project will also create approximately 200 long term, high paying local jobs.”
The project team also included Alejandro Alamo, Yolanda Cash Jackson and Emanuel Reyes. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr was recruited in the final phase of the process to lead the team to victory.
Siemens’ bid was around $80 million less than other offers. The low price was appealing for some county commissioners, but presented a problem for others.
“We’ve seen this before,” said Commission Chairwoman Audrey Edmonson, who expressed concern the company could seek price hikes down the road due to modifications.
“I just think it’s too good to be true.”
Some computerized systems have already been installed in the county at approximately 300 locations. Miami-Dade officials said those systems have reduced travel time between 3% and 10%.
The Siemens bid would cover around 2,900 locations. Siemens is an industrial manufacturing company based in Germany.
One comment
Jeffery W Mitchell
June 5, 2020 at 8:39 am
I have not noticed any difference in traffic other than COVID-19 related reductions based with people staying home.
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