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East-West Road proposals both come with major flaws

Reviews continue despite the Expressway Authority's recent troubles.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published November 15, 2006

TAMPA - A lot has gone wrong since the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority took on New Tampa's groundbreaking East-West Road project.

The toll road agency's legal counsel, one of its most knowledgeable sources on the public-private partnership New Tampa project, was fired. Federal and state officials launched a series of investigations looking into the agency. Last week, the agency's executive director resigned after his link to a gay pornographic film company was discovered.

Yet the East-West Road, which is tied to all this controversy, is still breathing. The remaining Expressway Authority officials and advisory committee members met Tuesday as planned to discuss the two bids on the project, which could become Florida's first road to be designed, built, operated and maintained by a private company.

A lot of negotiating lies ahead. Both bidding firms appeared to have very different ideas from the Expressway Authority about the feasibility of the 3.1-mile road, which would connect Interstate 275 to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard near Interstate 75.

"This is going to be a lot of hard work to get one of the proposals down to what is acceptable," said Marty Stone, the agency's planning director. "But I don't think we would be here if we didn't think we could do it."

For nearly five hours, the committee weighed the pros and cons of each firm's proposal. Both seemed to have major flaws. Spanish firm OHL, which has built 12 toll projects in Latin America and Spain, would rely on government subsidy of $956-million over 40 years, or $806-million if two lanes are built, then two added later.

The Expressway Authority and the city of Tampa specifically asked that no subsidies be used in the project. Some in the meeting wondered if they should all but disqualify OHL.

"We gave them the opportunity to give alternative responses, but they chose not to submit one," Stone said. The committee agreed to question OHL about the subsidies at a Dec. 12 interview day.

The other firm, a subsidiary of a consortium from Australia, Canada and New Zealand called Plenary Roads Tampa, detailed a longer-term contract of as much as 60 years and used toll estimates of $2.75 just five years after the road's 2009 opening, which seemed exorbitant to some committee members.

"Higher tolls means less drivers," said Chris Warren of Florida Turnpike Enterprise, who sat on the committee. "Which doesn't help (alleviate traffic on) Bruce B. Downs Boulevard."

Still, Plenary's proposal was "in the ballpark," Stone said. "It might be the furthest seat in right field, but it's in the ballpark."

Emily Nipps can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 15, 2006, 01:50:57]