Hillsborough unveils transportation plan that's both massive and specific
In a lead-up to asking voters to approve a penny tax for transportation in 2016, Hillsborough County on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious and finely detailed plan to radically transform transportation in the county over the next three decades.
The additional sales tax is expected to generate $6.1 billion in extra revenue over 30 years. That money, along with myriad other funding sources, will cover a vast range of mobility options, from roadway widening to light rail to Bus Rapid Transit, all the way down to sidewalks and trails.
During a 90-minute media session, county administrator Mike Merrill[5] and several other members of the task force who contributed to the 15-month endeavor showed two videos that will be part of an effort to win public approval.
“We’re talking about nothing short of changing the culture about how we travel and move around the county,” Merrill said.
The next step is to bring the plan to residents for vetting and suggestions.
Merrill ventured what he regarded as a viable timetable: The referendum passes in spring 2016, and tax revenue starts flowing in the following month, at which point Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) — which will be made over into a super-agency controlling mobility issues — would quickly start identifying and beginning projects.
Intelligent traffic management systems and increased bus routes could happen fairly quickly. Managed lanes on I-275 would not be far down the line. In three to four years, we could see Bus Rapid Transit or some sort of express bus system.
"And I wouldn’t be surprised to see some rail in effect in seven years,” Merrill said, the first stick of which would run from Westshore to downtown.
Luicia Garsys, the county’s chief administrator of development and infrastructure services, weighed in: “The list of projects as proposed far exceeds the revenue that can be generated, so some winnowing of the projects will have to happen. That hasn’t been done because we want the projects to be thoroughly vetted and validated by the community.”
Eric Snider is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
References
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- ^ Mike Merrill (feeds.bizjournals.com)