Last year, a U.S. 19 task force led by Pinellas County Commissioner Karen Seel accomplished the seemingly impossible. It came up with immediate and long-term fixes for the deadly highway and even got Congress to chip in $50-million with the likelihood of more money in the future.

Now, the road work and future funding are in doubt, and it is clear who is to blame: The Florida Department of Transportation.

U.S. House Appropriations Chairman Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo, and Rep. Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, convinced Congress to give the state DOT $10-million to build more sidewalks along U.S. 19, synchronize lights, add emergency message signs and alter unsafe medians. And it gave the DOT $40-million for immediate construction, based on information from the transportation agency that it could build an overpass at Enterprise Road for $25-million and one at 118th Avenue for $40-million.

Yet work has not begun on either of those projects. In fact, DOT District Secretary Ken Hartmann changed both the construction schedule and the cost of the two overpasses. Most of the $40-million will be used to buy right-of-way for the Enterprise Road overpass, and the projects won't be built until 2004 and 2005 respectively, according to a Hartmann memo to Young and Bilirakis. There was more. The cost of the two overpasses more than doubled: Enterprise Road went from $25-million to $63-million and 118th Avenue from $40-million to $82-million.

Young and Bilirakis were not happy. In a letter to Hartmann's boss, state DOT Secretary Thomas Barry, the congressmen made it clear they expected immediate relief for U.S. 19. One sentence in the letter was printed in bold, underlined and italicized type: "It is not our expectation, nor was it our intent, that the appropriated funds be reserved for rights-of-way acquisition."

So far, the DOT has not given the congressmen or anyone else an explanation of why the costs went up and the work was delayed. On Thursday, Barry sent a brief letter to Young and Bilirakis saying only that the DOT "will coordinate with (the congressmen), as well as local officials, to develop a program to expend these funds in the manner in which they were intended." He provided no details on the costs or construction timetable.

Commissioner Seel, who put her political reputation on the line when she formed the task force, agrees with the congressmen. "When Congress recognizes the danger and deaths on U.S. 19 and they appropriate fast action dollars, they expect fast action results, and deservedly so," she said. "We need some answers" from the DOT.

It would be a shame if this chance to make U.S. 19 safer is ruined by bureaucratic bungling at the DOT. Lives are at stake, literally. Pinellas Medical Examiner Dr. Jon Thogmartin recently reported that from 1995 through 2000, 123 people have died as a result of accidents on U.S. 19, a death rate much higher than prior estimates. That means someone dies on U.S. 19 every 18 days, on average.

Congress is unlikely to make future appropriations for U.S. 19 if the money this year is not spent wisely. The DOT's course should be clear: Use the $40-million it already has and get to work building an overpass. Also, transportation officials should cooperate with the task force, as promised, to get more federal money to finish the job.

Pinellas County residents will not forgive transportation officials if they spoil this rare opportunity to take care of the county's most pressing transportation problem.

Back to Opinion

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

From the Times
Opinion page