State will pour billions into road improvements
Gov. Jeb Bush says the effort to expand roads and highways will improve the economy.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published November 3, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - Florida will spend $3-billion in the coming years, most of it to widen the state's traffic-snarled highways to make room for more cars and trucks.
The transportation spending binge is a big part of a legislative overhaul of development laws that demand better coordination between population growth and the ability of roads and services to keep up.
"The crucial projects we're proposing will strengthen Florida's economy by moving people and goods more efficiently," Gov. Jeb Bush said.
Florida's population is approaching 18-million people, and the state adds the equivalent of a city the size of Tampa each year. The $3-billion investment is only a fraction of a transportation backlog estimated at more than three times that much and growing each year.
Many of the 141 projects on the state's Strategic Intermodal System are not new, but some have been accelerated on the Department of Transportation's five-year construction timetable.
Major projects on the list include the widening of Interstate 75 from four to six lanes between Naples and Fort Myers, the start of a widening of Interstate 4 around Orlando and planning for a commuter rail system along the I-4 corridor.
The largest Tampa Bay project is the completion of Tampa's Crosstown Connector, an elevated highway linking the Port of Tampa, Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway and I-4 around Ybor City. The new money will pay for ramps to let traffic from east and south Hillsborough move onto the I-4 connector.
"It would allow them to get alternate travel patterns to downtown, to northbound on I-275," said Don Skelton, the Transportation Department's regional chief. "It really opens up a lot of movements from south Hillsborough County and the Brandon area."
The timetable for the project, now in the design stage, remains unchanged. Building will begin in 2009-10 and finish in 2013, but all pieces of the more than $500-million project now can move forward together.
Other area projects include the six-laning of State Road 50 in Hernando County, and the four-laning of the last remaining two-lane stretch of U.S. 19 in Citrus County, including a bridge over the Cross Florida Barge Canal.
Seaports and airports also will get some money, including $20-million for a new regional airport in Panama City championed by the St. Joe Co. The state's largest private landowner controls vast holdings in the area surrounding the planned airport.
But roads are the biggest winners.
"We felt the more dirt we could turn, the better the program would be appreciated, by both the Legislature and more importantly my boss," said Transportation Secretary Denver Stutler, who reports to Bush.
About 75 percent of the $3-billion is dedicated to adding lanes of new asphalt on Florida highways. The Orlando region, home of the state's worst gridlock, receives 7 percent more money from the fund than the next-highest region.
Supporters of mass transit and alternate forms of transportation say the program will only increase the amount of traffic on Florida highways.
"DOT doesn't do anything but concrete," said Denise Layne of Lutz, president of the Coalition for Responsible Growth. Layne said the state should put the most money in the areas with the worst traffic, but she said it takes so long to build a road that "by the time we build the thing, it's obsolete."
Some say wider roads attract growth rather than control it. Eric Draper of Audubon of Florida said new roads "open up new places to grow."
"These are all needed projects, but it doesn't get to the heart of the urban transportation problem," said Bob Rackleff, a Leon County commissioner and member of a statewide transportation planning group. He said Floridians' habit of commuting alone defies easy solution.
"You can't do it one person, one car," Rackleff said.
Times staff writer Letitia Stein contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.
AREA PROJECTSThe five biggest Tampa Bay area projects on the state's newly updated list of improvements under Florida's new growth management law:
CROSSTOWN CONNECTOR: Complete in Tampa. $129-million.
U.S. 19: Add lanes and a bridge in Citrus County south of Levy County line. $48-million.
STATE ROAD 50: Widen in Hernando from four to six lanes from U.S. 19 to Mariner Boulevard. $44-million.
TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Construct cargo access road. $22-million.
PORT OF TAMPA: Widen existing channel and expand capacity. $16-million.
-Florida Department of Transportation