Lawmaker unveils high-speed rail plan

Recognize the intersection of Interstate 275 and Ashley Street? This is the rendering, showing a high-speed train running down the center of the highway and through a large terminal that includes shops and offices.

By MONIQUE FIELDS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 12, 2001

CLEARWATER -- State Sen. Jim Sebesta spun into Wednesday's county road board meeting like a tornado.

He stopped for what seemed like a nanosecond to deliver his spiel about the high-speed rail.

The route: Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg.

The cost: $20-billion.

The time: Right now.

It's what the people wanted. Remember, in November voters ordered Tallahassee to deliver high-speed rail to Central Florida. As chairman of the Senate's Transportation Committee, Sebesta is trying to figure out how to get businesses and generous donors, and not taxpayers, to pay for the first segment of the train's Tampa Bay-to-Orlando route.

Just as Sebesta was telling board members the history of the project, he reached down for a white plastic bag that he would later say could contain his fiscal solution.

"Here it comes," he told board members. "It's a good thing you're all sitting down."

He pulled out a color drawing that showed a high-speed train running down the center of Interstate 275 at the Ashley Street exit in Tampa, and continuing through a large, elevated terminal -- complete with shops, office space and condominiums.

"The beauty of it is it requires no land," he told board members.

Of course, the plan hinges on finding someone to finance and develop the project. The St. Petersburg Republican got the idea from Disney's Contemporary Resort, which has a Monorail depot in its hotel.

If it's a success, he said, the elevated terminals could dot the high-speed rail route. One could even be placed at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, he would say later.

The project is filled with benefits, he said.

He figures 100,000 motorists drive from Pinellas to Hillsborough each day. If 10 percent to 20 percent of them left their cars at home to ride the rails, their decisions would substantially reduce traffic.

"They are commuters. They go back and forth. I never thought the high-speed rail would affect them at all," he said. "I think I was wrong."

To top it off, this idea is moving at the speed of a runaway train. A nine-person rail authority holds its first meeting Monday in Tallahassee. Rail plans could be in the works as early as January.

"Is it new?" Sebesta asked rhetorically of his space-age looking terminal. "Yeah."

"Is it radical? Indeed."

"Will it be adopted? Who knows."

If the Metropolitan Planning Organization's reaction is any guide, it might have a chance. Before Sebesta could gather his belongings, the board asked if he needed a resolution of support.

Sebesta gave a resounding "Yes," and a resolution was approved on the spot.

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