(The following story by Michael W. Freeman appeared on The Lakeland Ledger website on November 19, 2009.)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Area lawmakers say they’re more confident now that the SunRail commuter rail project, considered to be on life support just a year ago, is once again on track to getting a green light.
As lawmakers gear up for a special legislative session in December to approve a funding package for SunRail and for South Florida’s rail system, Tri-Rail, they think that tying the local systems in with a proposed high-speed rail project will make the entire package more attractive.
“Instead of just SunRail, it will also be high speed rail and Tri-Rail down in Miami,” said state Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando. “That will be a very different deal than just SunRail. It they lump all three together, that’s a different animal altogether.”
The SunRail project is a commuter rail line that would run from Volusia County to downtown Orlando, and then to Poinciana. It has twice been approved by the Florida House of Representatives but lost both times in the Florida Senate.
But now state officials hope to also tap into $8 billion in federal stimulus dollars for high-speed rail projects, and use some of that money to build a high speed train that would run from Cocoa Beach to Orlando International Airport, then down to Tampa. That project becomes more attractive to federal officials if there are also interconnected local commuter systems like SunRail and Tri-Rail.
“We cannot build enough lanes on I-4,” said state Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando. “We need mass transit.”
Thompson noted that her district includes economically struggling neighborhoods like Pine Hills and Paramore, where residents can’t always afford a car and are crying out for other transportation options.
“I’ve visited cities where people don’t even own cars,” she said. “They just get on light rail.”
Thompson said Florida also has a great opportunity through the stimulus money to make all three systems work.
“In order for Florida to qualify for high speed rail, we’ve been told in no uncertain terms it has to be intermodal,” she said.
Lawmakers still have to figure out how to pay for the state’s share of these projects, estimated at more than $1 billion for SunRail alone, at a time when state revenues are down because of the recession and Florida’s double-digit unemployment rate.
State Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, said lawmakers are considering a new tax on rental cars as a one possible funding source.
“It will probably include a rental care surcharge,” he said.
Thompson said the hope is that “it will be the tourists who primarily pay that surcharge.”
Still, Precourt said he’s more confident this time that SunRail will make it through the full legislature.
“I’m a SunRail supporter, and it is a different animal this time around,” he said.
Still, state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, noted that “It’s never had a problem getting through the House. It’s always lost in the Senate.”