Incoming Senate President Tom Lee says he is weighing a proposal to eliminate the agency.
By JEAN HELLER
Published October 27, 2004
TAMPA - Incoming Senate President Tom Lee confirmed Tuesday that top state officials are considering legislation to abolish the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority and hand its troubled elevated road project to another agency.
"That's one possible option, though it's not at the top of our list," the Brandon Republican said in an interview. "We need to give the Expressway Authority every opportunity to get this project built in a timely fashion and at an affordable cost to the public.
"But if that can't be done, we need alternatives."
If state officials are not satisfied in the next month that the authority can finish the $350-million, 6-mile elevated section of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, they could act to put the authority out of business during an anticipated special legislative session in December, Lee said.
To let matters continue as they are, Lee said, jeopardizes transportation projects statewide. The state loaned $150-million to the Crosstown project, and construction delays mean the money won't be repaid on time and available for other projects.
Lee's disclosure appeared to support statements made Friday to the St. Petersburg Times by Pat McCue, then the authority's executive director, that state officials were planning to legislate the agency out of business and hand the Crosstown project to someone else.
The Expressway Authority board fired McCue on Monday. The elevated-lane expressway, which was McCue's signature project, has been beset by setbacks since April, when a support piling collapsed. It now faces as much as $70-million in repairs.
Lee said he had been working for the last month with Gov. Jeb Bush; state Transportation Secretary Jose Abreu; incoming House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City; Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee; and others, to come up with some resolution of the Crosstown situation.
"But we're nowhere near having the information necessary to make a decision," Lee said.
He outlined three possible alternatives for the bridge, which has had an uncertain future since the discovery that some support columns were built on unstable soil that could not be trusted to support the three-lane road after it opened to traffic.
One alternative, Lee said, was "to tear the project down, which means no one gets their money out of it."
A second possibility is to allow the Expressway Authority to finish it if additional money can be found to finance repairs.
The third alternative is to let another agency, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, finish it.
Among state agencies, the Turnpike is the only one capable of doing it, Lee said.
"They have systemwide bonding authority and probably at a lower rate, so it would be less expensive. They wouldn't need any additional DOT funds ... "
The Expressway Authority was advanced more than $150-million in state funds to get the elevated lane project off the ground. The $110-million that came from the Transportation Trust Fund was to be repaid next year.
"Not only is the money not coming back in 2005, but it appears the Expressway Authority will need additional money to finish the project," Lee said. "DOT contemplated the return of those funds in determining what projects it can afford to fund. Under the circumstances, that will delay projects statewide into 2006 and beyond."
This is generating discontent among legislators statewide, which is bad news for the Expressway Authority.
"They have to go home and tell their people, "Because of the problems in Tampa, we're not going to get our new road,"' Lee said.
The Expressway Authority is an independent, quasi-governmental agency created by state law in 1963 to oversee the construction of toll roads in Hillsborough County. Its members include elected officials and appointees.
Turnpike Enterprise officials were noncommittal about taking over the Crosstown project.
"Florida's Turnpike Enterprise is a part of the Department of Transportation, and we take our direction from the secretary, whatever that direction might be," said deputy executive director Chris Warren.
The secretary, Jose Abreu, is pressing the Expressway Authority for a quick resolution.
In a letter dated Oct. 21 to the chairman of the authority board, Thomas Gibbs, Abreu strongly urged that a plan to finish the project be ready no later than next month.
That plan, Abreu said, must explain how engineers will resolve the fact that the bridge is supported by variable soil conditions, some of which are "insufficient." He also said safety and funding issues must be addressed.
Abreu's impatience was reflected at Monday's board meeting by Ken Hartmann, secretary of DOT District 7, which includes Hillsborough County. Hartmann repeatedly pressed Expressway Authority staff members to "stop trying to find consensus" among the various parties to the bridge project and come up with a definitive plan for its future.
PerryDawn Brown, spokeswoman for the authority, said Tuesday that a plan should be ready by the board's next meeting.
"We're working on that finance plan, and we will be submitting it to the board on Nov. 22, and we're very optimistic that we will be able to finish it," Brown said.
If the project is turned over to the Turnpike Enterprise, it most likely will be the end of the Expressway Authority, Lee said.
"This is their only project, and if they continue it, according to the Senate appropriations staff, they would be so far in debt they wouldn't be able to do another project for 20 to 25 years," Lee said. "There really wouldn't be much of a role for them any longer."
