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Finish Crosstown project first

Is there any doubt what the priority should be for an agency whose unfinished elevated roadway hangs over downtown Tampa? The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority needs to put that project to bed and restore its credibility before biting off another ambitious, expensive, controversial challenge.

State lawmakers are getting mixed signals about the authority's Crosstown Expressway project and its future as a player in building major Tampa Bay-area roads. St. Petersburg Times reporter Letitia Stein wrote Thursday that the word in Tallahassee is the authority might need a major bailout to complete the elevated commuter lanes between downtown and Tampa's eastern suburbs. A spokeswoman said the authority had enough cash reserves to open the highway this summer, two years after a support column sank in unstable ground, causing a section to collapse and delaying the project.

An engineering nightmare is fast becoming eclipsed by a political one. Community leaders rallied behind the authority when the collapse shook confidence in the roadway's safety. A new director, Ralph Mervine, quickly took charge and energized the agency. Then came the news the authority discussed a $15-million loan with the Department of Transportation. Officials changed course "when we sharpened our pencil," the spokeswoman said. But that raises questions about how firm a grip the agency has on its finances. Key legislators from the area with strings on the purse also have been left in the dark, contributing to concerns the Crosstown project might need a subsidy.

The authority should have reached out sooner to political leaders, given the costs and delays associated with the Crosstown project. Eroding confidence in the roadway is only half the fallout; the agency has lawmakers asking whether the state DOT should swallow the expressway authority's job.

That would be a loss to this community. The fast-growing metro area needs the local attention to transportation that the authority brings, along with its record of helping to coordinate local transportation efforts. The agency might have a role building a widely desired road linking the north Tampa suburbs to Interstate 275. But that talk is premature. First, it needs to open the elevated roadway, put its affairs in order and rebuild political support for the role it plays as a public agency.

[Last modified March 27, 2006, 00:31:13]