Construction on Miami Beach’s long-promised, candy-colored pedestrian "Canopy Bridge" has slammed to a stop, leaving rusting rebar and blocked lanes where a bright new gateway was supposed to rise. Instead of a bold new landmark, residents are staring at a frozen work zone while city officials, the developer and Florida Power & Light sort out what exactly is hiding under the street.
Underground locates blamed for halt
Miami Beach Commissioner David Suarez has publicly pointed the finger at unmarked high-voltage lines and missed utility locates, saying contractors drilling for pilings "hit the encasement of the FPL feeder line" and that Florida Power & Light gave wrong locations multiple times. Suarez warned that puncturing the line could plunge entire neighborhoods into darkness for months, and said the developer has brought in a third party to investigate the conflicting records. Those details were reported by Local 10.
A signature piece put on pause
The span, a 158-foot enclosed tube designed by French artist Daniel Buren and commonly called the Canopy Bridge, is part of the Five Park development and was billed as a $30 million gateway to South Beach. Terra Group promoted the bridge’s candy-colored design and its role connecting the Baywalk and the Alton Road corridor. Reporting in the Miami Herald said work began in January 2025 and the bridge had been expected to open in the second half of 2026.
FPL and city officials diverge on who’s responsible
FPL has pushed back on suggestions it is to blame for the stoppage, telling city officials it has used multiple locating methods, conducted supplemental testing and even offered to "soft-dig" the line to confirm its exact position. City commissioners heard the exchange at recent public meetings, where staff and FPL engineers stressed that the feeder lines have served the island for decades and that any strike could threaten reliability. The back-and-forth is on record in Miami Beach meeting materials and video (City of Miami Beach).
Legal and contract risks
Legal staff and commissioners have flagged contract language that could allow the developer to exit the bridge commitment if relocation or redesign becomes too costly, a scenario that has neighborhood leaders worried the project could simply disappear. Local 10 reported those contract concerns, while earlier reporting by the Miami Herald noted the city had planned to contribute roughly $12 million toward the bridge’s $30 million price tag.
What comes next
The developer has said it will hire an independent consultant to reconcile the utility locates with the bridge designs, and Commissioner Suarez has asked the city manager to study alternatives, including an over-water connection that would avoid disturbing the buried feeder line. City staff warned at public meetings that redesign, permitting and coordination could add a year or more to the schedule, and one official suggested the project might be pushed out two years, leaving the bridge’s opening date up in the air. Officials for Florida Power & Light have said they remain committed to finding a "feasible path forward" while protecting the island’s electric reliability, according to city records (City of Miami Beach).
