Shaky rail plan gets vote of confidence
A county planning board says it supports the $1.5-billion monorail concept. Making it a reality is the hard road ahead.
By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published June 14, 2005
A Pinellas County planning board recently took a symbolic step toward making a $1.5-billion elevated rail system a reality. But the plan still faces major roadblocks.
A county leader in transportation remains opposed to the idea. And no one knows exactly where the money would come from.
Still, the majority of the Pinellas Metropolitan Planning Organization board voted last week to support a plan to build 38 miles of elevated monorail and create a series of buses and trolleys to support it.
Some consider Wednesday's vote an indication that county officials are finally sensing a need to get moving on the project.
"That wait at the light is only getting longer," said MPO board member and County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan, who heads the Pinellas Mobility Initiative steering committee studying the plan. "I don't want anyone thinking we'll put a spade in the ground and move to a Disneylike monorail. What we did ... as a board is agree to a plan for an integrated transportation system for the county."
Still, some question the idea.
County Commissioner Karen Seel cast the lone vote against the plan last Wednesday.
"In 95-degree weather, will someone really take the rail and walk the rest of the way?" said Seel, the MPO chairwoman. "I'd have a hard time asking taxpayers to commit $1.5-billion to this project."
Others on the County Commission also are doubtful, which could prove troublesome when considering that the commission holds taxing authority in the county.
"I just think we're too developed to integrate something into our system," County Commissioner Susan Latvala said. "We're way too far down the road for this."
If usage is Seel's top concern, funding is a close second.
While $1.5-billion has been a price tag tossed around for the entire project, Seel said the cost probably will be higher considering inflation.Planners and supporters of the rail plan have been hesitant to pinpoint just exactly where the money will come from. Instead they emphasize a multiphase approach that relies on federal money and, possibly, a new local tax.
"If we were going to do it at once, you could talk about a funding source," said county planning director Brian Smith. "But if you're doing it incrementally, you have to figure out on the short haul how to get projects in."
The PMI steering committee has discussed asking voters to decide on a penny transit tax in 2008 to fund the project, said Jay Lasita, member of the MPO board and PMI committee. The County Commission would have to agree to place the question on a referendum.
"You have to put it in the hands of the people," said Lasita, vice chair of the St. Petersburg City Council. "The point is to get this in front of the voters as soon as possible."
In the past two decades, $4-million in federal money has been spent in consulting and planning on the project. And $3-million more is on the way.
The new money could mean the county's first steps on the project beyond the boardroom.
The PMI committee is considering putting the millions toward three proposed projects: an elevated rail that would run on the Clearwater Causeway from downtown to the beach and rapid bus systems in St. Petersburg and the northern portion of the county.
County planners envision that one day these projects would serve key roles in a completed rail system.
Planners envision a three-part system of speedy buses with designated lanes serving nine corridors in the county, a correlating trolley system, and 38 miles of elevated monorail connecting destinations in Clearwater to the St. Petersburg area. It's expected that 117,000 people will use the system a day, and that it will cost about $1.25 per ride, Smith said.
Plans for the system have been discussed for more than 20 years, a lengthy planning process that's not uncommon.
The city of Jacksonville's Skyway rail system was more than 20 years in the making. Planning for the $184-million project began in the late 1970s as part of a federal pilot program. The last piece of the 2.5-mile system through downtown Jacksonville was completed in 2000. The system has been criticized for taking too long to complete and for low ridership once it got moving.
In the coming months, the PMI committee will narrow down exactly which projects will get a portion of the $3-million, Duncan said.
"We've got to start spending it in a way that taxpayers can see an effort to get one of these things started," he said. "If we don't, we'll wake up 10 years from now and say, "We wish we had done something."'
--Nicole Johnson can be reached at 771-4303 or njohnson@sptimes.com Information from the Florida Times-Union was used in this report.