QuotePOLK COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday morning his administration is moving forward with a proposal to expedite 20 major interstate and roadway projects across the state of Florida in the next four years.
DeSantis said the "Moving Florida Forward" initiative will help some projects finish up to 10 years ahead of schedule and will be paid for through Florida's budget surplus.
"Just in this year, we're going to put in $4 billion from our budget surplus to be in these key projects. We're also going to dedicate $134 million each year to the State Transportation Work Program to further support and then because we have such a high credit rating, they're going to be able to leverage that money that we put in for even more so the total is going to be about $7 billion over four years, which is really, really significant," DeSantis said during a news conference in Polk County.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/01/30/watch-live-gov-desantis-holds-news-conference-in-polk-county/
So none in NE Florida.
Did Curry forget to make his payment to the Godfather?
Wow, we kinda get screwed here. I suppose that might be because basically all the planned I-95 widening is already programmed to happen within the decade anyway, and the I-10 widening is happening now, and the I-295 widening is also programmed, and the First Coast Expressway's completion is also programmed. They don't have too many more roads to play with up here after that (for now).
Here's the included project map:
(https://res.cloudinary.com/graham-media-group/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/c_scale,w_900/v1/media/gmg/RI6HPAY3HNCMPLV2BLUJHNIZ7A.png?_a=AJE+xWI0)
If I'm reading this correctly, that looks like $2.2
billion for additional widening of I-4? Seriously? Plus another $1.3 billion for whatever that connector road in #13 is?
Some friends out of state asked me to make a wild guess on what else you could do with seven billion dollars:
QuoteIf you just limited it to rail, that gets you... probably at least one serious expansion of Metrorail ($2b), Fort Lauderdale could have their silly tunnel ($1b), do the full Tri-Rail Coastal Link to WPB ($500m), make the Sunshine Corridor happen ($1b), expand SunRail to Lakeland ($500m), make Tampa's streetcar an actual light rail network ($1b), and probably get you at least some form of passenger rail in Jacksonville ($1b). Obviously those numbers could all move around but those would definitely be the projects.
Quote from: Charles Hunter on January 30, 2023, 10:20:15 PM
So none in NE Florida.
Did Curry forget to make his payment to the Godfather?
DeSantis knows that from northeast Florida to the panhandle it is reliably red for the most part and in his camp. He is buying more votes in the purple and blue areas of Florida. It's all about winning votes.
I note that one single interchange in Volusia County (#20) will cost a staggering $340 million. Imagine how much infrastructure could be improved in the NW Quadrant of Jacksonville for that money. That sum is probably more than the total spent in the NW Quadrant in the last 50 years ;D.
This also shows that we mostly throw money at the interstates, not other roads or mass transit. When does it end?
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on January 31, 2023, 12:45:37 AM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on January 30, 2023, 10:20:15 PM
So none in NE Florida.
Did Curry forget to make his payment to the Godfather?
DeSantis knows that from northeast Florida to the panhandle it is reliably red for the most part and in his camp. He is buying more votes in the purple and blue areas of Florida. It's all about winning votes.
I note that one single interchange in Volusia County (#20) will cost a staggering $340 million. Imagine how much infrastructure could be improved in the NW Quadrant of Jacksonville for that money. That sum is probably more than the total spent in the NW Quadrant in the last 50 years ;D.
This also shows that we mostly throw money at the interstates, not other roads or mass transit. When does it end?
FDOT probably showed DeSantis how long it takes to build a 1 mile pedestrian walkway in Jax
Quote from: marcuscnelson on January 30, 2023, 10:45:39 PM
If I'm reading this correctly, that looks like $2.2 billion for additional widening of I-4? Seriously? Plus another $1.3 billion for whatever that connector road in #13 is?
The Poinciana Parkway is a half built toll road to Poinciana, which is a sprawling city that straddles Polk and Osceola Counties south of US 17/92. The Connector is a Central Florida Expressway Authority project that will link the Parkway to I-4 and US 17/92 in the vicinity of CR 54 (Loughman) and Reunion Resort.
Traffic is truly hell down down there. That stretch of I-4 between US 27 and Disney is a nightmare as well that is continously backed up. Still interesting to see no money pushed in NE Florida though. Nevertheless, is this being paid with the Biden infrastructure money that we said we didn't want?
That's a lot of money to spend on these money losing roads.
Quote from: thelakelander on January 31, 2023, 07:17:07 AMTraffic is truly hell down down there. That stretch of I-4 between US 27 and Disney is a nightmare as well that is continously backed up. Still interesting to see no money pushed in NE Florida though. Nevertheless, is this being paid with the Biden infrastructure money that we said we didn't want?
That section and north to the turnpike is a 24/7 traffic jam. I don't know why they didn't run those express lanes all the way down past Disney.
Quote from: thelakelander on January 31, 2023, 07:17:07 AM
Traffic is truly hell down down there. That stretch of I-4 between US 27 and Disney is a nightmare as well that is continuously backed up
Amen. Truly, nowhere in North Florida is as bad as this awfulness at the Polk-Osceola line. When I started going to Lakeland for work in 2015 there was next to no traffic. This is a disaster now and can add an hour to the drive from Lakeland to Jacksonville.
Now....we can also have the debate as to whether or not developers should have funded this, and I'd love to see equal money for intra-Florida rail.
^I made the mistake once of attempting to take 17/92 between Haines City and Kissimmee to avoid the I-4 back up on the way to MCO. Everything was smooth sailing until I hit Poinciana. Never again!
Growing up, it took 20 minutes to get between Winter Haven and Lake Buena Vista. Those days are long gone. I still kick myself for not buying property at Reunion Resort when it was first proposed out in the boonies between Disney and US 27 in the early 2000s.
I am most excited about the 20 miles of "auxiliary lanes" on I-75 from Wildwood to north of Ocala!
The North Florida TPO Board was told at their February meeting why Northeast Florida received no funding from Moving Florida Forward:
QuoteSECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION'S REPORT
Secretary Evans informed the Board the Shands Bridge Replacement project is under contract. This is the largest project we have let to date. As of this month, District 2 has 141 active projects and has paid out $56 million in construction costs.
The reason Moving Florida Forward did not allocate any money to our area is because Northeast Florida has $5.2 billion in projects, which is 9% of the DOT's overall budget. We will add 96 new lane miles, improve 2,305 lane miles and repair and/or replace 36 bridges over the next five years. To date, we have $1.45 billion in resurfacing projects. We are in partnership with JaxPort and the railroads to ensure that the supply chain issues do not affect these projects.
Quote from: Charles Hunter on January 30, 2023, 10:20:15 PM
So none in NE Florida.
Did Curry forget to make his payment to the Godfather?
First Coast Outer Beltway Grand Opening soon!
Conservative Politics Drapes the Project.
Yes.... NE Fla is awash in road $$$$$.
North of Tampa the Toll Road initiative was thoroughly trounced. DeSantis remained as a possible Promoter.
So far, he has escaped Scrutiny.
" Roads are The Mother's Milk of Development "
- " A once prominent NE Figure" - who here on this Forum can name the person that made that statement??
Unsurprisingly, this appears to be moving forward.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/611507-lawmakers-support-gov-desantis-moving-florida-forward-to-speed-up-road-construction/
No surprise here... this is why transportation in this country is not at its best. More urban sprawl and destruction of the environment to boot.
Decisions are 100% political, not in the best interest of the citizens at large. DeSantis is extra hypocritical as he promises to drain the swamp and badmouths Biden's infrastructure and Covid relief bills while taking credit for spending those dollars on his patronage projects around the State. Corrupt politics 101!
QuoteDeSantis agency sent $92 million in covid relief funds to donor-backed project
The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) steered $92 million last year in leftover federal coronavirus stimulus money to a controversial highway interchange project that directly benefits a top political donor, according to state records.
The decision by the Florida Department of Transportation to use money from the 2021 American Rescue Plan for the I-95 interchange at Pioneer Trail Road near Daytona Beach fulfilled a years-long effort by Mori Hosseini, a politically connected housing developer who owns two large tracts of largely forested land abutting the planned interchange. The funding through the DeSantis administration, approved shortly after the governor's reelection, expedited the project by more than a decade, according to state documents.
Hosseini plans to develop the land — which includes a sensitive watershed once targeted for conservation by the state — into approximately 1,300 dwelling units and 650,000 square feet of nonresidential use, including an outdoor village shopping district. He has called the Woodhaven development, which has already begun construction, his "best project yet" and promised to pull out all the stops for its success....
....DeSantis, who campaigned in 2018 on a pledge to "drain the swamp in Tallahassee," reported a net worth of about $320,000 in 2021, according to public filings. He has subsequently relied more on benefits from wealthy supporters than his predecessor, current Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who was independently wealthy and flew on his own private plane.
DeSantis, a Republican candidate for president, initially criticized the American Rescue Plan in March 2021 as "Washington at its worst," arguing that much of the money "had nothing to do with covid" and that politicians were using the bill "as a Christmas tree" on which to hang pet projects.
But since the money arrived in Florida, he has used it for favored projects unrelated to the pandemic, including using interest from the federal funds to pay for the flight of mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard last year. DeSantis called on the state legislature to direct about $1 billion in covid relief to transportation projects in March 2021.....
....The local planning authority approved the state's plans at the meeting over the objections of Jeff Brower, the Republican chairman of the Volusia County Council, who argued that the interchange would encourage the development of sensitive wetlands that feed into nearby Spruce Creek.
"There are areas that just shouldn't be developed," Brower said at the meeting, referring to the Woodhaven project. "The pollution that we're creating to our entire state's water system is clearly resulting from the decisions that we're making to develop essential wetlands and watersheds."
Former Republican governor Charlie Crist, who ran as a Democrat against DeSantis last year, also opposed the interchange, arguing during his 2022 campaign that Hosseini's development would damage the local watershed. Hosseini sold part of his land to the government about a decade ago for conservation.
"This is a project Florida does not need and is one the community does not want — the state should not keep pushing for it," Crist wrote in a 2022 opinion piece for the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "Powerful developers want the interchange so they can more easily build on nearby land they own."
One prominent local supporter of the project is Hosseini's sister, Maryam Ghyabi-White, a regional transportation consultant at Ghyabi Consulting, who DeSantis reappointed in 2021 to the St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board. The water district, at the staff level, provided a permit for the project, without direct input from the board, she said.
She travels frequently to Tallahassee to push for local funding for transportation programs, working as a paid consultant on other interchange expansion plans along I-95. She said in an interview that the Florida Department of Transportation directed federal money to the Pioneer Trail interchange because "it was the only interchange in Volusia that design was ready," not because of any intervention from DeSantis. The federal funds would have gone to a Tampa project if local officials had rejected the funds, she said....
....DeSantis reappointed Hosseini to the University of Florida Board of Trustees during his first term in office. In 2019, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis took a private jet owned by Hosseini to announce a mental health initiative outside Jacksonville, Politico reported. Ron DeSantis appears to have taken a private plane owned by one of Hosseini's companies to a February fundraiser hosted by his political action committee in Miami, according to flight-tracking data and campaign finance disclosures.
A person familiar with DeSantis's operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private information, said the governor's team would call Hosseini regularly because he would usually provide his plane with late notice.
"They had a long, close relationship, and his plane was nice — it was a comfortable plane," this person said.
A review of more than 2,700 pages of documents from 2020 and 2021 — given to The Post in response to a public records request — show a working relationship between the two men, but no mention of the Pioneer Trail interchange.
They show Hosseini recommending someone for a position on the University of Florida Board of Trustees, calls on DeSantis's schedule with the developer and the appointment of Hosseini's wife to a different board in 2019. They also include invites from the governor's office for Hosseini to attend events, such as receptions at the governor's mansion and the State of the State address. Hosseini was also involved in transportation projects as part of Space Florida, the state's aerospace finance and development authority, where he serves on the board of directors with DeSantis.
Stephan Harris, a project manager at the River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization, said construction on the interchange is expected to begin early next year, with completion in 2025.
Local opponents of the plan are still hoping to stop the project.
Several groups have challenged in state court the permit for the project given by the local water management district. They argue that the project plans fail to fully consider the secondary and cumulative impacts of the exchange.
"It is the zombie interchange that just won't die, despite being fought back several times before," Save Spruce Creek founder Derek LaMontagne, who has been leading local opposition to the project, said in a statement. "Spruce Creek and its nature preserve are idyllic treasures that need to be protected."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/28/desantis-hosseini-interstate-covid-money/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert