 It was built in a public–private partnership between three government entities—the Florida Department of Transportation, Miami-Dade County, and the City of Miami—and the private entity "MAT Concessionaire LLC", which was in charge of designing, building, and financing the project and holds a 30-year concession to operate the tunnel.The project was approved after decades of planning and discussion in December 2007, but was temporarily cancelled a year later.Construction began in May 2010.