Eulois Cleckley, Miami-Dade’s public transportation chief, is leaving his job to take charge of the county-funded Underline project, a walking trail and park being built under the Metrorail tracks.
After applying for at least one job outside Florida — Cleckley was a finalist in May to run Boston’s airport and seaport — the county’s director of transportation and public works will be the new leader of a 10-mile linear park that will be partially open, partially open. under construction and still needs government support to complete the $156 million project.
Already open from Brickell to Silver Bluff, the former bike path now has separate paths for walkers and joggers, plus recreational options such as picnic areas, basketball courts and plazas for yoga classes and communal dining. The project is planned to eventually extend south to the Dadeland Metrorail stations.
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Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who hired Cleckley in 2021 to lead Denver’s public works department, announced his departure in a memo to county commissioners Friday afternoon.
“We are pleased that Eulois is taking on this key position at the Underline,” Levine Cava said in the memo. “During his tenure, the Department has made great strides to accelerate our progress in connecting our community through public transportation.”
Cleckley’s leaving his $298,000-a-year job with the county marks a new era for the Underline, which will evolve from a charity run for free by its founder, Meg Daly, to a nonprofit organization with a full-time professional director recruited from outside the organization. the main government sponsor of the project.
Miami-Dade’s 2025 budget estimates Underline’s construction cost at $156 million, with public funding coming from Miami, Coral Gables and the State of Florida, as well as Miami-Dade. County funding is approximately $70 million.
Levine Cava said Daly, Underline’s current volunteer CEO, will remain chairman of the charity’s board. No compensation information has been released for Cleckley’s Underline position.
Raquel Regalado, the Miami-Dade commissioner whose Miami district includes much of the Underline route, called Cleckley’s hiring a “win-win situation” for the county and the park.
“We look forward to witnessing the positive impact he will have as he works with Meg Daly to ensure its continued growth and success,” she said.
The change ends Cleckley’s tenure at the top of the county transportation system, a three-year stint that brought controversy, complaints, progress and major changes to Miami-Dade’s transportation plans.
Under Cleckley, Miami-Dade launched the Better Bus route redesign, a reworking of bus service that drew widespread passenger complaints and multiple attempts to fix things through transportation and public works.
In 2022, he helped Levine Cava craft the strategy that killed the county’s plan to build a private monorail connecting Miami to Miami Beach and instead expanded the Metromover tracks on the MacArthur Causeway.
He was part of the team that secured more than $400 million in funding in President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget proposal for the county’s plan to launch commuter rail service on Brightline-owned tracks.
Cleckley was suspended without pay for two weeks ahead of the redesign’s launch last fall because of a free fare promotion that Levine Cava said she did not approve.
In a statement, Daly called Cleckley a national transportation leader whose mission will be to secure the dollars needed to build and operate the Underline. She said Cleckley’s “overarching goal will be to meet or exceed our annual fundraising goals.”
The Underline relies on a mix of government and private dollars for construction and operation, including approximately $2 million annually needed to maintain and service the half-mile stretch that will open in the Brickell area in 2021 opened, according to Underline figures shared with the Miami Herald earlier this year.
At the time, Daly said the project’s annual budget, once the Underline is fully constructed, will be based on a calculation where each mile is expected to cost between $750,000 and $1 million. That would leave Cleckley overseeing expenses of between $7.5 million and $10 million a year.
Cleckley currently oversees one of Miami-Dade’s largest departments, with 4,300 employees and a $1 billion budget.
Levine Cava’s memo said the administration is looking for a new director and that Cleckley would leave his post “later this year.”
