5 Reasons Why The Outer Beltway May Be A Bad Investment

[jandar]

Can't you do that now?

It works, just a few lights to deal with, but its nice to avoid I-10 and go to downtown or Arlington when I need to. Clay County needs to get off of their asses and work on the 4 lane part and stop with the damn temp lights in Oakleaf. They were always limited access, so why put up temp lights?

[RexMontana]

I think building the Outer Beltway is a GREAT idea! If we build enough roads to go around Jacksonville, then we won't have to worry about downtown development. We could even change the name of the city to ***SATURN!!!*** That would be so cool!!!! Who cares about the fact that you can't MOVE on JTB if you are anywhere near Southside or Kernan, we need more roads!! Despite being the LARGEST city in land area, we have the SMALLEST minds when it comes to what is good for this city! How about some kind of RAIL SYSTEM that gets people moving around better here? Oh no! That's far too logical...ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

[Florida Power And Light]

The Project was a " Good " 'Investment' in political Terms.
Stopped Mayor Delaney in his supposed upward political Trajectory......
Stopped Joe Carlucci ( JR)
And might even now, ensnarl the current Governor.
Some proposals and projects are so bad you just have to let it Happen.

[marcuscnelson]

Back in September, FDOT informed the North Florida TPO that the Shands Bridge replacement, originally projected to cost $334 million, with bids later anticipated to approach $420 million, had instead received a low bid of approximately $600 million.

In your typical transit project, a final price that approached 180% of your original price tag would probably be required to see some reevaluation, some questioning as to why the price so far outstripped expectations. But of course, we are talking about a highway project.

The final, accepted bid for the Shands Bridge replacement is now $596 million.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/bridge-along-first-coast-expressway-to-be-replaced

[Charles Hunter]

I wonder what projects in northeast Florida will be sacrificed or postponed to make up the nearly $300 million that will now go to the FCE Bridge?

EDIT after looking at the North Florida TPO Transportation Improvement Program
https://northfloridatpo.com/uploads/documents/TIP-FY-2022-23-2026-27-Adopted-June-9-2022rev.pdf
In the current Fiscal Year (July 2022-June 2023) there is $472.6 million programmed for the bridge.  There's another $6.6 M in FY24 and $1.6 M in FY26 for a total of $481 million

So the $596 million bid is "only" $115 million above the budgeted amount.

Of the $481 million, $205 million comes from Turnpike funding, the remaining $276 is from Federal and State funds that could go to other projects in the region. It will be interesting to see where the overage comes from - Turnpike funds, or more general highway funds, or some combination.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ This is typical of the "bait and switch" approaches to many of our public projects.  It is indeed rare that any of them meet or get finished for less than projected at the time approvals are sought.  The overshoot on this project will be a piker compared to JTA's AV when it is done, if that ever happens given the technology is nowhere close to being available.

In the private sector, companies would be out of business with overshoots of the magnitude and frequency we see in the public sector and/or heads would roll quicker than a football team fires a coach for losing one too many games.

[thelakelander]

I'm not surprised. Whatever estimate you hear these days, double them and you'll likely be much closer to the actual cost.

[marcuscnelson]

EDIT after looking at the North Florida TPO Transportation Improvement Program
https://northfloridatpo.com/uploads/documents/TIP-FY-2022-23-2026-27-Adopted-June-9-2022rev.pdf
In the current Fiscal Year (July 2022-June 2023) there is $472.6 million programmed for the bridge.  There's another $6.6 M in FY24 and $1.6 M in FY26 for a total of $481 million

So the $596 million bid is "only" $115 million above the budgeted amount.

Of the $481 million, $205 million comes from Turnpike funding, the remaining $276 is from Federal and State funds that could go to other projects in the region. It will be interesting to see where the overage comes from - Turnpike funds, or more general highway funds, or some combination.

Interesting, FDOT's project website for the bridge still gives the $334m number.

https://nflroads.com/ProjectDetails?p=5136

[Charles Hunter]

EDIT after looking at the North Florida TPO Transportation Improvement Program
https://northfloridatpo.com/uploads/documents/TIP-FY-2022-23-2026-27-Adopted-June-9-2022rev.pdf
In the current Fiscal Year (July 2022-June 2023) there is $472.6 million programmed for the bridge.  There's another $6.6 M in FY24 and $1.6 M in FY26 for a total of $481 million

So the $596 million bid is "only" $115 million above the budgeted amount.

Of the $481 million, $205 million comes from Turnpike funding, the remaining $276 is from Federal and State funds that could go to other projects in the region. It will be interesting to see where the overage comes from - Turnpike funds, or more general highway funds, or some combination.

Interesting, FDOT's project website for the bridge still gives the $334m number.

https://nflroads.com/ProjectDetails?p=5136

That is typical, the FDOT doesn't do a great job of keeping those project websites up to date.