Miccosukees and the Tamiami Trail Bridge: Examining the Tribe’s Attempts to Sink the Modified Waters Delivery Project

jeffrey a. hegewald, University of Miami School of Law

Abstract

In the fall of 2008, legal challenges to the Tamiami Trail Bridge project threatened to derail a critical component of the $7.3 billion Everglades restoration program. Indeed, only the Omnibus Spending Act of 2009 saved the project following a ruling from the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to the events discussed in my note, failure appeared almost certain for years of research, development, and project adaptations performed by the Army Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the DOI/National Park Service.

My note, "Miccosukees and the Tamiami Trail Bridge: Examining the Tribe’s Attempts to Sink the Modified Waters Delivery Project," contains five sections: 1) A brief history of the Tamiami Trail and the Miccosukee Indian Tribe; 2) An introduction to the Modified Waters Delivery Project and the Tamiami Bridge Component; 3) An overview of litigation concerning the Tamiami Trail Modification Project’s status as a transportation project; 4) An overview of litigation concerning the project’s compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act; and 5) An examination of renewed congressional action, the impact of the federal court’s most recent ruling, and the project’s groundbreaking.