|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Officials map plans for regional system
Editor’s note: This is the first segment of a three-part series on long-term mass transit plans for the area. This week the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority’s mission is discussed.
By TOM GERMOND and SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007 |
 |
![[Image]](/content_images/121107_pco-01-b.jpg) |
| Photo by TOM GERMOND |
| From 1990 to 2005, the total annual delay in travel time has increased by 119 percent in the Tampa Bay area, according to a study done on the area by the Texas Transportation Institute. Shown above is the busy intersection of Park and Seminole boulevards. |
|
TAMPA BAY - Advocates of mass transit know it's going to take a great deal of work to get the political and financial machinery in place to build a regional transportation system.
But they believe the nuts and bolts for their vision have begun to come together since the Legislature created the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority in July.
Many community leaders in the seven counties it serves are showing strong support – possibly more than ever – to deal with traffic gridlock.
“This is the first time the business community has been fully engaged in trying to find a solution,” said Betty Carlin, communications manager of Tampa Bay Partnership.
The Partnership, a regional organization focused on stimulating economic growth in the seven-county Tampa Bay area, was a “key advocate in getting legislation passed,” Carlin said.
Its members represent cities, county economic development councils, chambers of commerce and other entities. Since May 2006 the partnership has conducted more than 100 meetings to spark dialogue. About 2,000 individuals have talked to the Partnership.
For years, many officials have paid lip service to the need for regional transportation, but hopes for more efficient mass transit have never advanced much further than meeting rooms. Funding is a key issue.
On this issue, nothing “is off the table,” Carlin said.
Whether the millions of dollars needed comes from grants, fuel and sales taxes, tolls, fares, fees, bonding or private-public partnerships has yet to be determined.
“It’s going to take a lot of consensus building,” said Carlin. “The money is not going to appear from nowhere.”
At the October meeting of the authority, the need for partnerships among the federal, state and local levels
was emphasized. Bob Clifford, a Department of Transportation planning manager, said previous efforts have concentrated on seeking federal and state funds first and then trying to obtain a local share.
“ ... and what we’ve seen nationally is, folks have told us, ‘You’ve got to be able to come to the table with a plan that includes your share of the funding and that that’s in place,’ ” Clifford said.
In future meetings Clifford said several options will be discussed – “what’s worked, what hasn’t” across the country.
Although mass transit systems vary in size and scope around the world, no model has been singled out.
“I don’t think there is one out there that is a cookie cutter for us,” said Carlin. “There are seven counties. We are dealing with multiple jurisdictions.”
Regional transportation advocates don’t consider their efforts as a road vs. rail debate. It suggests a broad approach that includes corridors that can accommodate roadway, transit and freight movement.
“Our mission is to do what other regional communities have done: Embrace and implement regional connectivity,” said Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners and vice chair of TBARTA.
TBARTA voted Nov. 30 to approve a program to make a plan, including where the funding would come from, by the end of 2008 – 13 months from now, Duncan said.
He said the work had to be completed by the end of 2008 to meet the obligations set forth in the legislation that created the authority and to be able to submit the plan for funding when federal legislators begin work to update the federal Transit Act in 2009.
Certainly, a regional transit system can’t happen overnight. Many projects discussed at previous 15-member authority meetings have projected completion dates 40 years away.
Statistics bear out the strangling effect that traffic congestion can have on a county such as Pinellas, which has a population of nearly 1 million and a large tourism base.
From 1990 to 2005, the population of the Tampa-St. Petersburg area has grown by 31 percent, in that same time the total annual delay in travel time has increased by 119 percent, according to a study done on the area by the Texas Transportation Institute.
That same report said that the average commuter spends an additional 45 hours a year sitting in traffic at a cost of about $1 billion annually or $809 per commuter.
Besides providing relief to traffic congestion, mass transit is credited with having economic benefits in terms of creating jobs and stimulating development.
Workforce housing and mixed-use projects near transit stations are envisioned by the Partnership based on its interviews with executive directors of regional authorities in other metropolitan areas.
Over the years much planning at the state and local levels has been undertaken on mass transit, and many key corridors have been identified, along with a variety of types of rail systems.
At an August meeting, a transit working group outlined key projects.
Pinellas officials said the first priority for the group was a regional rail connection between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Other types of connections suggested included ferry service between Bradenton, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Apollo Beach. Clearwater to the beach is among many local routes that could be served by some type of rail.
The authority board meets monthly at different sites in the region and was given to July 2009 to develop a master plan for the area.
The chairman of the 16-member authority is former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shelton Quarles. Besides Duncan, other Pinellas elected officials on the board are St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker and Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard.
At the October meeting, board members were trying to come up with funding formulas to operate the authority and emphasized the need for cooperation.
“We have a spine right now, which is roads,” Hibbard said. “We need an alternative spine. And I believe personally, that’s rail and that’s going to make all the ribs more productive, which is going to be our bus and our road system that already exists. We want people to take shorter trips in their car, get to the spine, get on and get off the road. I think that’s incredibly important ...”
Consultant David Twiddy emphasized “regionalism and cooperation that we need to connect, internally to the region and to other regions, to be truly regional that we can’t worry about the jurisdictional lines and, again, ensuring improvements fit in with the regional approach.”
Duncan said the rising price of gasoline and auto insurance further necessitated the need for regional transit. He said some people were being priced out of the ability to maintain an automobile.
“We’re coming to a point in this community that to maintain the quality of life we’ve got to do this,” he said. “We have to come up with a well thought out plan, then fund it for the benefit of everybody.”
Next week: Officials voice their opinions on mass transit plans.
|
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
|
|
