Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

County praises plan for Beltway

Commissioners support a proposed toll road that would cut through Hillsborough and three neighboring counties.

By BILL VARIAN
Published August 3, 2006

TAMPA - A strong majority of Hillsborough commissioners enthusiastically blessed a proposal to build a suburban beltway linking the four main high-growth counties of the Tampa Bay region.

Using descriptions such as "excellent," "tremendous," and "bold," commissioners voted 6-1 to give their conceptual approval to the toll road being proposed by the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.

"Looking at the concept, this beltway will be good for the Tampa Bay region," said Tom Scott, who sits on both boards and made the motion to sanction the plan.

Commissioner Kathy Castor voted against the proposal, which she said will take limited potential money for improving transportation away from the county's job centers and divert it to areas where it will promote more growth. She also faulted the proposal for its lack of emphasis on rail or other transit.

"I'm concerned that our precious dollars would go to a sprawling roadway," she said.

None of the commissioners raised any concerns when Scott acknowledged that he had been briefed on the proposal a year ago and told to "keep it very confidential," though the proposal would affect thousands of people throughout the region.

It only became public last week after the Expressway Authority received requests from two newspapers records for written documentation about the project.

Expressway Authority officials will now seek similar blessings from the other county governments, and, with their approval, will begin a years-long process of studying detailed routes, designing the road and jumping the various regulatory hurdles ahead. Optimistically, they hope to be able to open some segments of the road by 2015.

Commissioners said there will be many opportunities for them to intervene and raise objections if necessary, and that the beltway is far from a done deal. In upcoming years, the Expressway Authority will need their approvals of design and engineering plans, as well as amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, the county's development guidebook.

Commissioner Brian Blair, while noting he has questions about future details of the proposal, said it appears to be a step toward dealing with growth that is sure to come.

"I think we're at a crossroads now where we can sit on our hands and twiddle our thumbs or take some bold action," he said.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe called it an excellent plan that will not only help address transportation needs but could help spur economic development by making it easier to get into and out of the region.

"What you're talking about is going to substantially improve our transportation network," he said.

Commissioner Ronda Storms raised concerns that, by offering a sweeping endorsement so early, the board might weaken the county's bargaining ability in the future to ensure the road is built in a way that addresses needs on the county's own roadways. She nevertheless voted for it after fellow commissioners and Expressway officials assured her that the county will have several cracks at exacting concessions.

Expressway Authority Executive Director Ralph Mervine gave commissioners an overview of a proposal, describing it as still very conceptual in nature. He described a major expressway that would originate out of northwest Manatee County, loop around the most densely developed areas in southern and eastern Hillsborough and take one of two possible paths through Pasco and then dip back south into Pinellas County.

Based on consultant projections, Mervine said that some segments of the new roadway would be ferrying more than 50,000 vehicles daily when it opens, and more than 70,000 in the decade that follows.

Authority planning director Marty Stone said the agency was not planning the road in order to open the region to new development, but rather to handle the growth that is already projected to take place. He said their analysis indicates that the primary users would be regional commuters who travel from one county to another for work, and people already using other roads in the region.

"This is not a developer road," Stone said.

County Planning and Growth Management Director Bruce McClendon assured commissioners that they can enact land-use measures to ensure that the roadway does not open the roadway corridor to new development that wouldn't otherwise take place. He said Orange County has proved that by building highways around Orlando that remain natural.

"The roads don't produce sprawl," he said, if steps are taken to prevent that in advance.

[Last modified August 3, 2006, 07:55:43]