High Speed Rail Money allocated in Stimulus Plan. Corrine Brown Delivered.

[thelakelander]

I never knew the old high speed rail proposal Jeb killed was shovel ready.  Unfortunately for Jax, Orlando is being set up to be the statewide rail hub.

Could Stimulus Plan Bring High-Speed Rail To Tampa?

By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 19, 2009

TAMPA - High-speed rail looked dead four years ago, but backers of the proposal say it's being resuscitated now thanks to the recently approved federal stimulus package.

"This is unbelievable," said Lee Chira, chairman of the Florida High Speed Rail Authority.

The group hadn't met since voters in November 2004 opposed granting state taxes to the project â€" the first leg of which would have connected Orlando and Tampa for $2 billion.

Now the authority is hopeful it could get some of the $8 billion recently set aside for high-speed rail projects nationwide.

"We're 90 percent sure we'll get it because the president said he is looking for communities and authorities that have shovel-ready projects," Chira said. "We're farther along than anybody."

The authority sent a letter to the Federal Transit Administration on Jan. 27 expressing interest in the funds and has scheduled a meeting Feb. 26 in Orlando to discuss what to do next.

By mid-September, the authority must have its formal application submitted to the FTA.

The project's first leg from Orlando International Airport to Tampa was expected to cost $2 billion and include stops at downtown Orlando, Disney World and Lakeland.

The federal government issued environmental permits that would need to be updated, and several years ago granted permission to access the Interstate 4 median for the project, Chira said.

Orlando would become a hub for later extensions to Miami and Jacksonvillle.

"We could be under construction in 12 to 18 months," Chira said _ if the project receives funding.
After that it could be three to four years before trains are running. They would travel up to 120 mph.

[ProjectMaximus]

I never knew the old high speed rail proposal Jeb killed was shovel ready.  Unfortunately for Jax, Orlando is being set up to be the statewide rail hub.

Orlando would become a hub for later extensions to Miami and Jacksonvillle.

I know we've had some dialogue about this before, so excuse me if I am misunderstanding something, but to me, Jacksonville was never poised to be a hub for Florida. If anything, we would be a regional hub...providing primary access into and out of the state. But within Florida, it makes much more sense for Orlando to serve such a role. I don't even see how it's possible for Jax, being in the northeast corner, to ever be a statewide rail hub.

If this were air travel we were discussing, then logistics arent as relevant. Direct flights would go in and out of the busiest city/destination. But with rail...the hub more or less has gotta be a central location, no?

Anyway, I don't think this is anything to worry about, so long as we don't allow ourselves to become so insignificant that Orlando to New Orleans/Birmingham/Atlanta rail lines can bypass Jax.

[civil42806]

I never knew the old high speed rail proposal Jeb killed was shovel ready.  Unfortunately for Jax, Orlando is being set up to be the statewide rail hub.

Could Stimulus Plan Bring High-Speed Rail To Tampa?

By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 19, 2009

TAMPA - High-speed rail looked dead four years ago, but backers of the proposal say it's being resuscitated now thanks to the recently approved federal stimulus package.

"This is unbelievable," said Lee Chira, chairman of the Florida High Speed Rail Authority.

The group hadn't met since voters in November 2004 opposed granting state taxes to the project â€" the first leg of which would have connected Orlando and Tampa for $2 billion.

Now the authority is hopeful it could get some of the $8 billion recently set aside for high-speed rail projects nationwide.

"We're 90 percent sure we'll get it because the president said he is looking for communities and authorities that have shovel-ready projects," Chira said. "We're farther along than anybody."

The authority sent a letter to the Federal Transit Administration on Jan. 27 expressing interest in the funds and has scheduled a meeting Feb. 26 in Orlando to discuss what to do next.

By mid-September, the authority must have its formal application submitted to the FTA.

The project's first leg from Orlando International Airport to Tampa was expected to cost $2 billion and include stops at downtown Orlando, Disney World and Lakeland.

The federal government issued environmental permits that would need to be updated, and several years ago granted permission to access the Interstate 4 median for the project, Chira said.

Orlando would become a hub for later extensions to Miami and Jacksonvillle.

"We could be under construction in 12 to 18 months," Chira said _ if the project receives funding.
After that it could be three to four years before trains are running. They would travel up to 120 mph.

Hmmmm by shovel ready do we mean that all the property, easement, right of way has been procured?  All the environmental impact statements and clearances have been obtained?  If not then its not shovel ready

12-18 months to start up should not be defined as shovel ready.  Lets face its being project to start up in 12 to 18 months it will be 2 to 3 years minimum

[Charles Hunter]

Do the same "shovel ready" timelines apply to high speed rail as to highway projects?  I've heard there are different timelines for road projects depending on who is doing it- the state or a local government, so high speed rail could have a longer schedule.  Somebody read those thousand pages, stat!

[tufsu1]

The Environmental Impact Statements for High Speed Rail were completed 5 years ago...and after JEB convinced voters to kill it, the remaining money went to designing multimodal transportation centers (like the one JTA & FDOT have proposed here).

The design for the Orlando center is complete, the one at the Miami Airport is partially constructed, and design was ongoing for the centers in Tampa and St. Petersburg....the land has been acquired in all 4 cities, and since the train would run in the meian of I-4 and the Greeneway in Orlando, that land is in place too.

So, yes, parts of this are probably "shovel ready" right now with the rest being ready very soon.

[thelakelander]

It may be shovel ready, but I'm not too crazy about spending $2 billion for a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando.  I believe Amtrak (with more stations and frequent service) would be a better and cheaper option.

[jtwestside]

Ooops, that should read: In fact the ALL 15 Republican congressmen voted against a total of almost 150,000 jobs.

Mica's shenanigans are well documented in many blogs the past few days, though it's pretty much standard operating procedure, of course. Oppose the bill viciously, vote against it, then show up at every ribbon cutting in the district paid for by federal funds.

They generally get away with it just because there aren't enough people out there to connect the dots on them, and maybe not enough people who care even if someone does.

I don't want to turn this into a political discussion as this isn't the forum for it. But it's ludicrous to say that they didn't have provisions put even if they didn't vote against it or that they should have voted for it just because they supported 1% of where the money was going. 

This bill should have been 50% high speed rail and transit not 1% and put in at the last minute to boot. The whole thing is a "use a crisis to push a agenda" bill more than anything. The Bush administration did it after 9/11 and that's what's happening now. Neither one is right. It's interesting that after criticizing Bush for evoking 9/11 to push his agenda the left is using "financial crisis" like it's going out of style. Thank god the republicans have the backbone to stand against it.

I don't think I need to remind anyone that Obama has been in office for 1 month today and the DOW is down 2k points. I don't want to bash him too much, except that he was making some pretty heft heal the world promises during the campaign.

[BridgeTroll]

I agree Stephen... but to be fair to jt... he was responding to Fayes political analysis.

[tufsu1]

It may be shovel ready, but I'm not too crazy about spending $2 billion for a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando.  I believe Amtrak (with more stations and frequent service) would be a better and cheaper option.

agreed...but it was kind of hard for me to say that too loud while working on the study

[FayeforCure]

Its like inheriting a beautiful sprawling old victorian mansion, and never ever spending money on repair or maintenance, never fixing a leak, a broken board, or window, but instead covering all the faults up with expensive decor.

At some point, the opulence doesnt cover up the general ruin.

It doesnt matter whether or not you are a republican or a democrat in that circumstance. Its simply time to grab hammer and saw and break out the screwgun.

stephendare, I agree. That is exactly what happened to Amtrak.

jtwestside, it's one thing to use the 9/11 crisis to take our nation to a war in Iraq under false pretenses, that has already cost us $3 trillion dollars ( and continues to cost us $12 billion every single month), it's quite another thing to respond to our very real economic crisis to work to rebuild America by investing in infrastructure, helping the unemployed, and inject funds to help states, while including the largest middle-class tax cuts ever.

All of this was voted against by all 15 Florida Republican Congressmen, and I don't even have to remind you who systematically starved Amtrak of investments over the years. The only other plan out there was a Republican Tax Cuts only plan, with NO stimulus investment in infrastructure at all.

[JeffreyS]

Would these high speed rails be iused by freight also.

[tufsu1]

some of them yes....but not the ones proposed for FL

[JeffreyS]

How high speed are we talking about?

[thelakelander]

I think 120mph.  For comparison's sake, Amtrak's Acela Express (Boston-NYC-DC, etc.) operates at speeds in excess of 135mph.

[JeffreyS]

So if they are running on dedicated transit tracks would that make the service less likely to meet the budget chopping block than Amtrak did.  I know there is not a firm answer to that but it may be that is a good reason not to just use Amtrak. As soon as an administration gets into office that is not transit friendly Amtrak meets budgeticide.