Has America's transportation future just been born in Florida?
By Gary Reese
February 2, 2010 — Talk of high-speed rail systems is usually couched in lofty talk about the distant future. But Florida’s apparently genuine commitment to the development of a “rail culture” of bullet commuter trains and the development that goes with it may have finally happened because of the temporary economic downturn. A Florida delegation of state and federal lawmakers was told in Washington last fall that Tallahassee had to show financial support for rail if the federal government was going to chip in with significant dollars of its own. That meant getting the Republican-dominated legislature to commit to more and better rail in a high-profile special legislative session in December. The risk of forfeiting the federal largesse may not have been enough to persuade GOP legislators to pony up state money. After all, they rejected such a commitment in both 2008 and 2009. And this year, the same Republicans are drawing the wrath of Tea-Partiers, who vow to unseat those in the GOP who supported more rail. The difference this time might have been Florida’s double-digit unemployment rate. Republican leaders stressed the number of jobs – both short- and long-term – that expansion and construction of SunRail and high-speed rail is supposed to produce. Once organized labor leaders were persuaded that union jobs would be protected, the twain of the political left and right met in Florida, and the die may have been finally cast on rail. Just this past week, President Obama announced in Tampa that the feds are on board – probably to the tune of between $1.2 billion and $1.6 billion, depending on who you ask. (Florida requested $2.5 billion.) Construction could begin this summer of a 61-mile commuter rail line to run from Volusia County west through downtown Orlando and on into nearby Osceola County. Future plans are to connect Orlando and Tampa with trains that will run at about 160 miles-an-hour. After that, it’s hoped Miami eventually will get linked into the system. If things go according to plan, work on the Tampa-Orlando line will begin in 2014. Cynics might say Florida (and California) were the winners of this multi-state sweepstakes for federal money because neither is a state that a president seeking re-election wants to spurn. Yet it’s probably more important to the White House and to Democrats in Congress that central Florida might be the closest thing to ideal for an expensive experiment in high-speed rail. The perception in Florida is that the state has long been dragging its feet, but that’s not true when compared to many other states. Florida already owns most of the property needed, although another half-a-billion dollars must be spent to own it all. Money also has been committed for south Florida’s Tri-Rail system. And the state already has a rail authority in place. The central Florida region is also thronged with tourists, who presumably would take rail in large numbers. As pricey as the undertaking likely will prove to be, a Florida rail system will be cheaper than similar systems elsewhere, according to most experts. Proponents of rail say America lags dangerously behind many European countries in embracing a necessary and perhaps inevitable transformation not only to commuter trains, but to a changing economy that will be increasingly based on development hubs based around train stations. They say build the tracks and it will guide future growth along the specified rail corridors, eventually fostering billions of dollars in economic growth. There’s no question that the I-4 megalopolis of 3.4 million people from Orlando to Tampa is choked with auto traffic and its attendant sprawl. Rail opponents counter that high-speed rail is nothing close to cost-effective. They insist that over-commitment to it is a romantic pipe dream for the likes of environmentalists and urban utopians. In Florida, critics of the new rail deal say the money for SunRail won’t even necessarily end up leading to high-speed tracks to Tampa and Miami. Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland has made a political cottage industry of opposing SunRail. Regardless of anybody’s position, the new cooperation between Tallahassee and Washington may have just brought about a point of no return in initiating an increasingly rail-based economy. Vice President Joe Biden said in reference to the rail grants to the states that it is “seed money” – just the beginning. And if these rail networks start altering zoning and other economic planning, that’s when the goal line will truly be within reach. No one can predict how all this will unfold in the years to come, but elected officials are among those in some other states that are getting nervous that they’ve already missed the train on federal money for high-speed rail. One is John Oxendine, the early leader in the Republican primary race for governor of Georgia. His uneasiness is a sign that the “just-say-no-to-everything-federal” mentality of Tea Partiers may be running up against the cruel reality that rail is indeed the future all over the nation, or should be. While Florida is insulated geographically, Atlanta – originally founded as a rail nexus – could be poised to be perhaps the regional hub for commuter lines. Links have been envisioned that would connect Atlanta west to Houston, and northeast to Washington, DC. Yet Georgia was granted less than $1 million for a feasibility study. That’s light years behind Florida. North Carolina got $545 million and Virginia $75 million. |
