Push a funding initiative to fulfill Gov. Jeb Bush's vision of commuter rail in high-density corridors
Ease the burden that local communities are bearing under the new "pay-as-you-grow" system to help fund infrastructure expansion.
Address the need to alleviate heavily congested highway corridors. Transportation officials project that by 2025 virtually all of the state's urban and interregional highway corridors will be heavily congested during peak periods, even after planned transportation improvements are made. |
Ties That Bind
The largest chunk of Florida's $9.1-billion transportation budget for 2006-07 -- $2.6 billion -- is earmarked for the state's Strategic Intermodal System (SIS), a network of facilities, roads, railways, airports and seaports that handles the bulk of passengers and goods within the state.
"We used to look at different modes individually -- rail, roads, seaports, airports -- but now we view the trip itself, considering all modes as a single, interconnected system," says Bob Romig, director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Florida Department of Transportation.
Romig and others say Florida's approach, now in its third year, is unlike any other in the nation. Planners envision a seamless network connecting regions across the state and beyond.
By law, about two-thirds of all discretionary state spending for infrastructure expansion must support SIS projects. That's expected to increase to 75% by 2015. Every dollar invested in transportation infrastructure, DOT officials say, yields $5.50 in economic benefits.
From road to rail: Planners envision a seamless transportation network across the state. |
Among funded projects for 2007: A cargo tunnel beneath downtown Miami connecting the Port of Miami to I-95; infrastructure for central Florida's commuter rail line; and relocation of the Panama City-Bay County Airport.
The SIS approach is a response to the impact of a net gain of 1,000 new residents arriving in Florida each day through 2025. "This will help us maintain economic competitiveness. It will also help us maintain livability in Florida," says Terry Kraft, a senior planner with the Florida DOT.
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