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Road authority's leader says beltway just 'studies'

By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published January 22, 2007

TAMPA - The last two executive directors of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority made memorable exits.

In 2004, Pat McCue resigned after a pillar collapsed that supported a section of the elevated lanes of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

In November, Ralph Mervine quit amid questions about his link to a gay-porn business.

So Stephen L. Reich began last week as the agency's interim executive director knowing he is being watched closely.

For the next eight months, Reich will be paid more than $134,000 to oversee an agency struggling to overcome months of bad publicity, not to mention two state investigations into alleged improprieties and a push in the Legislature to abolish it.

A transportation consultant at the University of South Florida, Reich, 51, will return to his job at the Center for Urban Transportation Research after he's done at the authority.

Meanwhile, he reports to a board controlled by appointees made by former Gov. Jeb Bush.

During an hourlong interview, Reich talked about his plans.

Why on earth would you take this job?

(Laughs.) You're not the first person to ask me that. You know, I watched with interest from a distance what was happening at the authority. So it was kind of difficult, with my background and experience, to sit on the sidelines, to stay out of the way, and not put up my hand and say, "If you need some help, I'm here." ... Having a background in tolls, and knowing something about the toll business, and being a member of the community, I thought, you know, I'm up for a challenge.

What did you think the authority needed when you were on the sidelines?

A return to some basics. Accountability. Transparency. These are public funds. ... What we're here to do is provide a service to those people who are paying a premium to ride the facility. That's why we're here. I'm not trying to point fingers at anybody in the past.

You're coming on at a time when the Expressway Authority is planning two rather ambitious projects. How do you see your role in overseeing the agency as these projects move forward?

By two projects, you mean ... ?

(The New Tampa) east-west toll road and the beltway.

Well, the two projects are really the (Interstate 4 connector) and the east-west.

What about the beltway?

The beltway isn't a project.

What do you mean it isn't a project?

There have been studies that have been conducted about the feasibility of new expressways in and around Hillsborough County. ... We're a resource for this community. We don't drive the train. If we're asked to evaluate something ...

But it was the Expressway Authority that unveiled the beltway project last summer. It was an Expressway Authority project.

This agency was conducting and will continue to conduct studies all the time about the potential of a project. ... I would encourage you to spend an hour and look at the presentation.

I've attended those presentations.

It was not a project. My understanding is - and again, I'm not the best one to talk to about the past - I can talk to you about where we are right now, and that is there were studies done to see if Hillsborough's future transportation needs could be met with toll facilities.

We were invited to do that, and we did.

My understanding of the beltway is that there were studies done, but they were done by the authority. It wasn't like someone from outside was asking the authority if they could please study this.

It's not one. They are a series of expressways that came out of that initiative. If someone wants to connect them altogether, they get a beltway.

I'm just saying, they're not projects that the Expressway Authority has done investment-grade studies or were thinking about going to market to borrow money to build. To me, there is a project when there is consensus that it is needed, there is the will of the community.

So you think there is still a question on whether the beltway is needed in Hillsborough?

Why do you do that? Why do you do that? I mean, why do you do that? That's not what I said at all. Why do you do that? I'm trying to have a frank and open conversation with you, and you turn it like that. Stop the tape and replay it, and see if there was any place where I would have intimated that.

So it's up in the air that the beltway is needed? You're saying it's not a project until it has the consensus that is needed?

That it's wanted. That it passes the test of financial feasibility. That it's consistent with local plans.

So until that's done, we don't know? Is that your point?

That's part of my point. In addition, some of the proposed study areas don't even fall within jurisdiction of this authority. Legally, we can only do things in Hillsborough County.

But there are two projects: One is the (New Tampa) east-west connector, where we have proposals, and that's on track. ...

Have you had a chance to review those bids?

I will say this: My professional threshold will be whether or not it's within the public interest to do this.

What does that mean?

If it makes financial sense for the public. If it doesn't, we have to work really hard to make that happen.

One bid requires a billion-dollar subsidy over 40 years; the other, the tolls are among the highest, if not the highest, in the state. Is that a concern?

Based on my review, there would be a lot of negotiation required for the proposals to serve a public purpose.

Is road privatization the wave of the future?

As long as there is an aversion to raising traditional means of funding for transportation, gas tax, registration fees, whatever, toll roads seem to be the only kind of express lanes that are being built in Florida. ... The other project I want to talk about is the Interstate 4 connector project.

That's a real project. I've been meeting with (the Florida Department of Transportation) to get up to speed.

I thought the DOT had decided to do that project separately from the Expressway Authority. When did that come back to life?

I think I read it in your paper. It allows people from I-4 to connect to the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown; it's pretty short, a bunch of ramps. It involves some truck lanes that have access from Interstate 4 to the Port of Tampa, pulling a lot of that traffic from Ybor. It costs about $500-million.

Are these toll lanes?

That's all being discussed.

Do trucks like toll lanes? Don't they try to stay away from them?

Yes, trucks typically don't like tolls. Those are all things we need to look at.

So you have eight months to do all this?

I hope it's not that long. Sometime after the legislative session (which ends in May), we'll start a national search for an executive director. We'll then know what we're dealing with.

So Rhea Law is staying on for a while as the authority's interim general counsel. Is it weird because you're from CUTR, and she's the chairwoman of the USF board of trustees that oversees CUTR? Can you explain how it won't interfere with overseeing Rhea Law here, at this job?

We at the university looked at it from a real and a perceived conflict, and people smarter than me and the attorneys said it was neither. And one of the reasons is, my position at CUTR is so far down the food chain (laughs). The vast majority of CUTR's funding comes from sponsors who want to pay us to solve a problem. So it's not like we're beholden to the university for an appropriation to make sure we can all eat.

Okay, one last question. How do you avoid a fate similar to your predecessors?

You know, I've got a job (at CUTR). (Laughs.) If I can help here, then I will have a successful time here. But that page has to be written months from now.

[Last modified January 22, 2007, 14:51:00]