Miami's notoriously bad traffic has reached uncharted territory, with a jam of concrete cars now stretching underwater off the coast of Miami Beach.
Just under two dozen car-shaped artificial reefs are being lowered off the coast of South Beach, between 4th and 5th Street this week. The reason — to create an underwater sculpture park and an artificial reef that organizers called the "first of its kind."
The underwater sculpture park ReefLine launched its first installation with a beachside celebration Tuesday afternoon, with the concrete cars in view off of South Beach's coast. After they are placed on the ocean floor, ReefLine creators say they will plant over 2,000 corals. So far, that list includes a colorful array of seafans and soft corals, but none of the critical reef building hard corals, including boulder and branching corals, that have been hit hardest by bleaching and disease.
Colin Foord, ReefLine's director of science, said Florida is at the front lines of climate change, sea level rise and the coral crisis. Two years ago, a record-setting marine heat wave spread across the reef in the Keys and parts of Miami-Dade. The prolonged heat killed the last remaining wild stands of elkhorn in the Lower Keys. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared a fourth global coral bleaching event now ongoing. As of Oct. 20, Atlantic and Caribbean waters off of Florida's coast were on bleaching watch, one degree above no bleaching threat to coral.
The ReefLine sculpture, Foord said, will serve a dual purpose as a living underwater laboratory while engaging the public with a new art installation.
"It's raising awareness amongst the broader community that factors like climate change are right here in our own backyard," Foord told WLRN.
Foord said building artificial reefs like the sculpture park is a tightly regulated and controlled activity. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which oversees artificial reef installments, sets requirements for concrete. And ReefLine plans on planting coral grown in its Allapattah nursery.
The car sculptures, he said, won't sink "down into the sand." "They're not impacting any natural hard bottom or seagrass. A lot has gone into selecting the sites and the design of these cars."
The project took about five years to complete through partnerships with the City of Miami Beach, which provided $5 million from a bond passed by voters, Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management, the FWC and the Army Corps of Engineers, among others.
Miami Beach City Manager Eric Carpenter said this unprecedented effort required the City of Miami Beach to "create new boxes in the permitting side of things." Carpenter said he was grateful Miami Beach residents voted to fund this initiative.
"I believe that it's always challenging to be a first mover in a space," Carpenter told WLRN. "It creates opportunities for others to follow in those footsteps and to continue to do great things for our environment, great things for the South Florida reef system, and great things for the tourism economy here in South Florida."
ReefLine Founder and Creative Director Ximena Caminos said she wants audiences to view the seemingly mundane traffic jam as a symbol of hope.
"When we come together, we are so creative and so smart that we can really resolve some of the world's largest problems," Caminos said to WLRN. "Climate change is a manmade problem. And this is a manmade solution."
ReefLine Executive Director Brandi Reddick said the ultimate goal for this project is to line Miami Beach's 7-mile coast with installations.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 4,476 artificial reefs have been planted along Florida's coast since the 1940s. Of those reefs, over 300 are made of concrete.
In December, ReefLine will announce the five finalists for their next installation in 2027.
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