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Association Totals
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| Fees & Assessments Tracked at: |
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| HOAs, COAs & POAs: |
3550 |
| CDDs: |
577 |
| Condo Hotels: |
63 |
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E-Newsletters
Bullet Train Coming to FLA
High Speed Rail Coming to Central Florida
From the President's Desk
We did it! The president announced federal stimulus funding for a High-Speed Rail line between Tampa and Orlando during his State of the Union address on January 27th. This is the biggest thing to happen in Florida since Disney came. The lack of creditable mass transportation has long been the only thing preventing the Central Florida economy from blossoming. Central Florida is now destined to become the economic heart of Florida.
The $1.25B committed to Florida as a "down payment" for the Bullet Train, by President Obama and Vice President Biden on Thursday January 28, 2010 when they visited Tampa, represents half of Florida's funding request. The White House has indicated that no state would get more than half of its request right away. It is generally agreed here in Florida that we should take the President and Vice President at their word and get on with building the system, going as far a $1.25B will take us.
 What's are the next steps? There is a tremendous amount of work to do to bring high-speed rail into service in Central Florida. Preliminary work should begin forthwith preparing the I-4 corridor (see Figure on left below), and creating jobs, while the more complicated tasks of the project are being bid. Land preparation is the immediate challenge, including clearance, drainage improvements and safety barriers. The bigger task is the creation of specifications for bid packages. I would hope bid packages could go out to pre-qualified companies in the fall of 2010. Vendor selection could then take place in the spring of next year. The iconic needle-nosed Shinkansen bullet train (Figure at right) manufactured by Central Japan Railway is in the running for the project.
High-speed rail connecting Tampa and Orlando is already stirring visions of Disney visitors adding a trip to Clearwater or St. Pate beaches and Tampa residents riding the rail to Orlando, perhaps for a drink at Kitty O'Shea's to hear Bubba "Whoopass" Wilson. Orlando is well prepared with a world class local bus network and the recently approved and funded 61-mile commuter rail system, Sunrail, connecting De Land in Volusia County and Poinciana in Osceola County.
 Viable Tampa Bay area public transportation, however, is still in its planning phase. The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) which encompasses seven counties has been planning a network of buses and light rail since 2007. A one cent sales tax increase referendum is just now being lined up for the ballot this fall to provide transportation funding in Hillsborough County. A similar tax referendum is now being planned for Pinellas County voters in 2012. Passage of these tax increases for regional transportation will be difficult in the current economy, but should be helped by the High-Speed Rail breakthrough. Even with increased transportation funding, the TBARTA Master plan does not call for regional rail line completion for decades.
So we must ask, how will people get from their homes to the downtown Tampa station and how will out-of-town visitors get from the station to the beaches? TBARTA is scrambling to pick up the pace. The Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit (HART) system will need to provide improved express (traveling in dedicated lanes unimpeded by traffic) bus service when the bullet train is operational. Destinations must include most of the major Tampa sports, shopping, and entertainment venues. The HART network must also connect to Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) buses and routes to the beaches and Tropicana Stadium.
Without more timely, improved multimodal transportation systems in Hilsborough and Pinellas counties, we will see high-speed rail coming into Tampa with no way to get to the beaches or Rays games. This would not be a good situation.
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