(The following article by Jay Hamburg and Etan Horowitz was posted on the Orlando Sentinel website on August 2.)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Jeb Bush announced a nearly $491 million deal today that will bring commuter rail to Central Florida, capping a 20-year dream to relieve gridlock in one of the nation’s most congested regions.
He arrived at 12:50 p.m., about 15 minutes later than expected, on board a train that rolled up on tracks next to the downtown Orlando Lynx bus station.
“Establishing commuter rail will ease congestion, which will improve the quality of life of people both on and off the road,” Bush said.
With funding mostly lined up and details over routes and stops just about worked out, only minor negotiations remain before construction can begin, and trains could start running between DeBary and Orlando by late 2009. An extended route into Osceola County is scheduled to be completed by 2013.
During a news conference after his arrival, Bush announced a deal with CSX Transportation, which owns the 61 miles of track on which the commuter trains would run. The state will buy the tracks for $150 million and in exchange, it would improve existing freight lines so that CSX can increase its capacity and move some of its trains away from urban areas, possibly farther from downtown Orlando.
The Florida Department of Transportation is releasing more details about the project this afternoon, and commuter-rail cars are on hand for the public to see after 1:30 p.m.
“This increases mobility options and freight capacities for the future of Florida,” said Denver Stutler, Florida’s transportation secretary, on Tuesday.
The deal with CSX was the final component needed to push the rail project forward. It is being called an “agreement in principle” between Florida and CSX with some details such as liability for any environmental contamination around the existing tracks to be worked out in the near future, Stutler said.
But both he and Gary Sease, a spokesman for CSX, said a strong framework was in place and both expected the deal to be finalized in the near future.
FDOT will oversee the design, construction and operation of the rail system. The purchase of the rail lines will come from state funds.
The deal also creates new possibilities for housing and retail development around transit stations in Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties.
Long time coming
Transportation planners have pushed for some form of rail to relieve congestion in Central Florida for more than 20 years, but funding problems and political battles nixed the idea.
This time, governments have agreed that rail is needed and have pledged money to get it built.
In addition to the $500 million for the tracks, construction of the system, including the stops, will amount to about $475 million. The federal government will chip in half. The state will provide 25 percent, and local county and city government will put up the other 25 percent.
The state also will pay operating costs through 2015.
“What a great opportunity for this region,” said Shelley Lauten, director of myregion.org, a think tank that tackles growth issues in seven Central Florida counties, on Tuesday. “It shows what we can do when we work together.”
Supporters of commuter rail say it will begin to take some pressure off Central Florida roadways, where congestion is ranked as the nation’s ninth worst.
Pressure has been building to develop mass-transit options in a region whose population is expected to double to more than 7 million people by 2050.
“I think it’s wonderful,” said Linda Chapin, director of the Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies at the University of Central Florida, on Tuesday. “We had a chance at rail in the late 1990s and we blew it.”
Chapin pushed for an earlier project, but she had left office as Orange County chairman when the County Commission turned down a light-rail proposal by one vote in 1999. She called today’s announcement a “good first step.”
A regional impact
Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said Tuesday counties will have to continue to work together to figure out how to operate and pay for the system in the future.
Orange County already has put aside $30 million to build transit stations.
“This project is important,” Crotty said. “It is not the end all. It’s a starting place.”
Leaders in Volusia County, where about 30,000 residents commute every day to jobs in Seminole and Orange counties, were ecstatic about the news.
“I think what it will do is connect us in ways that we have only been connected by automobile and I-4,” said Linda White, president and chief executive officer of the West Volusia Chamber of Commerce. “And we all know the issues we have in terms of that connection. It will allow us to rethink where we relocate business, how we look at workers and how we move people back and forth.”
White said that the commuter rail also will boost plans for a $23 million Partnership Center in Orange City, which will host seminars, conferences and concerts.
“This will give them [commuters] an opportunity not to have to go through the stress of driving, the cost of gasoline and the maintenance on their vehicles,” Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno said. “It will change the lifestyle of the people who will be using it.”