Widen the road, now

Widen the road, now

GOVERNMENT WATCH by Jean Gruss | Editor/Lee-Collier

The widening of Interstate 75 to 10 lanes using tolls will continue even if Collier County opposes the plan. The chairman of the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority has his foot on the accelerator.

Bill Barton is retired, but he's busier now than he was when he was chairman and chief executive officer of Naples-based engineering firm WilsonMiller.

Barton is chairman of the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority, a body established by the state legislature in 2005 and supported financially by Lee and Collier counties whose mission is to widen Interstate 75 with toll lanes. The authority can sell bonds to fund the construction of new toll lanes.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) later this year will begin widening the four lanes of I-75 on a 35-miles stretch in Lee and Collier counties to six lanes. However, the state has approved widening the road to 10 lanes using tolls because it's unlikely state or federal funds will be available anytime soon.

A study commissioned by the expressway authority found that widening the interstate 17 miles from Immokalee Road in Collier County to Southwest Florida International Airport in Lee County would cost as much as $900 million. However, it found that tolling just four lanes wouldn't make financial sense. So the plan now is to toll six lanes - three in each direction - and let the remaining four lanes (two in each direction) be free. Tolling six lanes faces some opposition, notably from Collier County commissioners.

The Review caught up with Barton to discuss Collier County commissioners' opposition, when Sarasota and Charlotte counties will join the effort and how the public perceives the project. Here's an edited version of the conversation:

Q: When tolls were initially discussed, Lee County politicians seemed to be against the idea while those in Collier County were in favor. Now, it appears the roles are reversed. Why?

A: Lee County's initial reluctance really did not stem from a disagreement moving forward with an express toll lane project. Rather, it was their concern that unless the legislation was properly formatted, the expressway authority would have the potential of usurping local authority. I don't know that Lee County has ever been opposed to the concept of the project. That's reasoned by the fact that Lee County understands and works with tolls. They have tolled facilities that they own. As a consequence, they are less apprehensive of a tolled project. Collier County, on the other hand, has no experience with tolls.

Q: Does that explain Collier County's reluctance to back the project?

A: I think it does. I'm not singling them out. I think all of us are this way. We are apprehensive about things we don't understand.

Q: How hard is it to understand that I-75 is a parking lot?

A: That part shouldn't be hard to understand.

Q: So is it opposition to taxes or are there other issues?

A: Interestingly, of the five Collier County commissioners, we have four who have shown reluctance thus far to continue to be partners in this project. One of them - Commissioner [Fred] Coyle - his position is that I-75 is a federal highway. Therefore, the federal and state government should be paying for these improvements. On the surface, certainly that's not an unusual or complicated position to take. However...it sounds to me as though you're telling the federal government that we in Southwest Florida have a looming catastrophe and we are going to severely punish ourselves until you fix it.

Q: Does it seem Collier County commissioners have become more vocal in their opposition lately?

A: I think the problem was that initially we anticipated we were going to get a traffic-and-revenue study back that said you could add four lanes and put tolls on them. When they came back and said you can put tolls on six lanes, that's when the change in attitude occurred.

Q: How much of this is a reaction by commissioners to the tax-reform movement in Tallahassee?

A: There very well may be some merit to that thought. Are they using the expressway authority as a whipping boy? I can't answer that question.

Q: What action must Lee and Collier county commissioners take now?

A: Lee County passed a resolution last Tuesday that basically said that Lee County is in favor of moving this project forward. Lee County is a full partner with the expressway authority. Of the17 miles, 14 of that are in Lee County. Only three miles are in Collier County, from Immokalee Road to the county line. Regardless of whether Collier County opts to join as a partner, our expectation is that this project is moving forward.

Q: What is the likelihood that only Lee would have tolled lanes on I-75?

A: I can't answer that yet. I'm going to ask for meetings with each of the county commissioners during the course of the next month. I've already asked that we be placed on the Collier County agenda in their first meeting in October. That will be the opportunity for them to make a decision of how they want to join in this project. We have some ideas we'll present to the Collier County commissioners that I think will help them get past their objections and some compromises that can work so that we can get them on board.

Q: Can you tell us what those might be?

A: I'd rather not do that until I talk to them about it.

Q: Has Charlotte County been part of this discussion?

A: The legislation that created the expressway authority allows Charlotte and Sarasota counties to become a part of the expressway authority with a positive vote of the Lee County Commission, the Collier County Commission and whichever of those county commissions wish to be a part of that. They're aware of that. We've had representatives from both of those counties monitor some of our meetings. I think they're taking a wait and see attitude to see how this process moves forward.

Q: Do you feel any pressure from the anti-growth crowd?

A: No. Certainly those who oppose growth aren't going to like the idea of improving I-75. But that's still a relatively small percentage of our total population. Those who drive the highway every day, I think their voices are going to be a lot louder.

Q: There's been discussion of the Heartland Parkway east of I-75 and that might alleviate north-south interstate traffic. How does that affect the I-75 toll and widening project?

A: It doesn't. What we're struggling with is the congestion that is going to occur and be there as early as 2011. It will simply get worse after that. And as I said earlier, Southwest Florida can probably expect relief from the federal and state governments sometime in the 2030 decade. The Heartland project is not going to be in place before then. I can promise you it's not going to happen. If it does occur, it will be several decades from now.

Q: When will construction start?

A: Our objective would be to have the ability to start construction on the 10-lane facility in the year 2011 with anticipated completion in late 2014 and early 2015. It is ambitious, but doable.

Q: Have you gauged public perception of the project?

A: Yes we have. We've retained the services of Cella Molnar, which is a traffic information firm. Virtually all they deal with is traffic issues and public involvement. Over the course of about four months, we made presentations to 63 different organizations within Collier and Lee County...chambers of commerce, county commissions, city councils, Kiwanis clubs, Republican clubs, anybody who had interest. As a part of that, we created a questionnaire. The questionnaire had 15 questions, but two of them were really important. The first of those was: Would you be willing to pay tolls on a tolled express highway in order to advance the improvement of I-75 to 10 lanes? The response across the board was about 82% in favor. Then we asked a more difficult question: Are you willing to pay tolls on lanes five and six for the purpose of advancing the 10-lane facility? The response was 72% in favor. The sample was 1,400 people.