SunRail gets go-ahead

ORLANDO — State officials will allow development of the SunRail commuter train system to move ahead, according to a statement made this morning. The $1.2 billion transportation project will run through the heart of Central Florida.

Ananth Prasad, secretary of Florida's Department of Transportation, made the approval official this morning at an 11:00 a.m. press conference.

Gov. Rick Scott officially put a hold on the project this past January, but other signs, like the $269 million in the state budget set aside for construction, suggested that SunRail would eventually receive state approval all along.

The first phase of SunRail's construction will run 31 miles, connecting DeBary to Orlando. With today's approval, SunRail could begin operating as soon as May 2014. The Florida Chamber of Commerce estimates that SunRail will “almost immediately” create 10,000 new jobs.

In his comments to the press, Prasad called SunRail a “judgment day” project — in other words, as SunRail goes, so too will go the future of state-supported commuter rail development projects.