TAMPA - High Speed Rail between Tampa Bay and Orlando is a step closer to reality with President Obama's announcement on Jan. 28 committing federal funds to the project.
The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) applauds this funding and is already taking the next steps to connect all of our communities.
As work begins on the high speed rail connection between Tampa Bay and Orlando, TBARTA will work to connect High Speed Rail to the Tampa Bay region through a Regional Transportation Network. This network is all laid out in TBARTA's transportation master plan, which was created and approved in 2009.
"TBARTA is beginning work this year to create a modern, multimodal transportation system that will connect the seven counties of the Tampa Bay region," said Ronnie Duncan, chairman of TBARTA. "Our regional transportation network will serve as a supporting system to Florida High Speed Rail passengers who travel to the Tampa Bay region for business or for recreation."
The TBARTA master plan includes highways and buses, as well as short and long-distance rail that will connect Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties. These short and long-distance rail projects will tie in closely to the High Speed Rail initiative between Tampa and Orlando.
This master plan will be implemented with the help of TBARTA's various partners, including HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority) and PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority) among others.
The TBARTA Board of Directors voted in December 2009 to begin work on the first projects of the TBARTA Regional Transportation System. The nine approved projects will cost an estimated $10 million, funded through the Florida Department of Transportation and other partnerships.
These projects include Alternatives Analyses, Conceptual Analyses and Feasibility Studies for several corridors, with active projects in all seven counties of the TBARTA region by 2011.
"Having a strong Tampa Bay regional transportation network will only bolster Florida's high speed rail service. If travelers knew that once they arrive in Tampa they have a connected, coordinated transportation system that can carry them to destinations within and beyond Hillsborough County, then they would place more value on the high speed connection,"
said Bob Clifford, executive director for TBARTA.
Just as the President anticipates investments in national High Speed Rail will create jobs and improve local economies, TBARTA believes that investments in the Tampa Bay Regional Network will create an annual average of nearly 21,000 quality, local full-time jobs over the next 40 years.
The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (www.TBARTA.com) was created by the Florida Legislature in 2007 to plan and develop a multimodal transportation system that will connect the seven counties of the Tampa Bay region. The legislature mandated that TBARTA must create a Regional Transportation Master Plan for the Tampa Bay region by July 2009.
TBARTA adopted this plan in May 2009.
The goal of the Master Plan is to engage the public in developing a vision for regional integration of transportation systems and foster partnerships with government agencies and business entities.
