Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Public deserves fair accounting for road

By Times editorial
Published October 18, 2006

The Ridge Road Extension is a vital east-west link in the Pasco road network, providing another direct path to the North Suncoast Expressway, a third hurricane evacuation route for coastal residents, and a limited access route between the burgeoning central portion of the county and the more densely populated west side.

Or, the Ridge Road Extension is years behind schedule, a pricey luxury Pasco County may not be able to afford because of escalating construction costs and uncertainty over environmental questions.

The diverse opinions are both accurate. More than two decades after it was conceived, the 8.5-mile extension of Ridge Road from Moon Lake to the North Suncoast Expressway and on to U.S. 41 near Connerton is mired in problematic price projections.

The county owes the public a fair and accurate accounting of what this road could cost to build if environmental permits are secured.

As Times staff writer Chuin-Wei Yap reported, just weeks after estimating the expense for commissioners at $122-million, county staffers are now recalculating the costs after omitting customary details associated with road construction projects.

Thirteen months ago, the county estimated the cost at $70-million including $17.6-million for contingencies, inspections and inflation.

Last month, Michele Baker, the county's engineering services director, stood before commissioners and put the price tag at $122-million because of rising construction prices. Baker provided the data as commissioners considered allocating $48,000 for a project consultant and to ward off criticism from critic Dan Rametta of Land O'Lakes, who contends the county's numbers are much lower than they should be. His estimate is $302-million.

What commissioners didn't know was that staff had eliminated the $17.6-million from the inspection and other accounts in order to deflate the publicly disclosed cost. The subterfuge shouldn't be tolerated.

Contingency costs may be figured at 10 percent, 8 percent or zero depending upon when someone perused the county's books. Ditto for engineering expenses which at different times the county's has estimated at 15 percent, 7 percent, 10 percent and then nothing.

Well, which is it? Apparently, none of the above.

After the Times questioned the calculations, county staffers set out to produce new numbers. They will figure the add-on costs at 3 percent for engineering inspections, 3.3 percent for inflation and 10 percent for contingency. Conservatively, that adds $20-million to the cost estimated just last month.

There is no denying Ridge Road Extension is a controversial project. Public concern has peaked over high-priced consultants steering the project through the state and federal permitting process and worries about unnecessary wetlands damage in the Serenova environmental preserve.

As Commissioner Ann Hildebrand observed correctly, this project has to operate in the public light. Failure to do so simply damages the county's credibility as it seeks to answer the public's criticism.

It also diminishes the hard work already accomplished to appease environmental concerns. A redesign turned the Ridge Road Extension from a local road into a 65-mph limited access highway, effectively reducing the development potential along the route. The county also reworked the plans in order to cut the number of affected wetlands and negotiated preservation of nearby property in order to provide adequate mitigation.

The county is hopeful the conclusion of the lengthy permitting odyssey is near. Still, the desire to reach the end of the line can't supersede the importance of providing an accurate bottom line.

[Last modified October 17, 2006, 22:46:03]