A Times Editorial

Driving burden

The Department of Transportation needs to question its consulting firm's toll revenue estimates, because its errors are costing Florida Turnpike revenue and public trust.

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 18, 2000

The Florida Department of Transportation has made a joke of determining the need for toll roads. In four recent projects, the DOT has asked an expert for a crucial piece of information: Will the road generate enough traffic (and therefore tolls) to pay for itself?

The so-called expert in each case, San Francisco-based consultant URS Greiner Woodward Clyde, overestimated toll revenues by millions of dollars. Not only does that raise questions about the true need for the roads, but it also burdens drivers on the Florida Turnpike, which must make up for revenue shortfalls on other toll roads.

Looking at URS' estimates, one could argue that throwing a dart at a page full of numbers might be as accurate. St. Petersburg Times staff writer Craig Pittman reported that URS estimated the Veterans Expressway in Tampa would be collecting $24-million by now, yet the actual toll revenue has been less than $14-million. Another project important to the Tampa Bay area, the unfinished Suncoast Parkway, should pull in $70-million in 2002, URS said before construction began, but that estimate has been lowered to $14.5-million. URS wasn't even close in Polk County, either, where the Polk Parkway was supposed to be raising $23-million by next year, while the actual tolls are now expected to be $7.4-million.

In each project, the revised toll revenues suggest the road construction was premature or not needed at all, yet the revisions came too late to stop construction. So to repay the bonds, the DOT has tapped revenues from the Florida Turnpike, which has raised its tolls four times -- to $16.40 for a car traveling the full 320 miles.

Without such a burden, the Turnpike could become a toll-free highway. Or its revenue could have contributed to more timely road projects in South Florida, argues state Sen. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami. The process "seems like it's not kosher," he said.

URS defends itself by saying toll projections are tricky, and the DOT seems happy with the company, which shares DOT office space in Orlando. The DOT has renewed URS' $500,000 a year contract through 2002, and URS has worked on local projects (it badly erred on toll estimates for Osceola Parkway near Orlando and Garcon Point Bridge in the Panhandle).

Defenders of the projects argue that while the roads may not be busy now, they will be in the future. While it is true that toll roads such as the Suncoast Parkway will meet a growing need for limited-access highways, such roads through rural areas encourage urban sprawl by making it easier for developers to build there.

The greatest harm, however, is to the DOT's credibility. If the cozy relationship between state agency and consultant appears to justify questionable road projects with faulty revenue projections, then Florida residents will lose confidence in those decisions.

State transportation officials should give URS an ultimatum: If the consultant can't improve its accuracy in predicting toll revenues, then the DOT will seek another consultant.

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