In the recent effort to expand roads and rework Malfunction Junction, the I-75 North to I-4 Westbound traffic jam that continues all the way into I-275 South and the Howard Franklin bridge, some other projects are going to be kicked off the list. This is partially something to do with not diving into state funds from local taxpayers to do a little more than just maintenance and additions.
Splurging less
Many lawmakers in Florida throughout its 67 counties spend less than residents nationwide throughout the state. Some options have been to dive into the subsidiary money from the BP spill, others think to raise toll prices in some counties to help with adding funds to roadwork.
So far, we were only able to obtain $1.9 million in funds for transportation. But we have over $4 million in unfunded road projects to do band-aids on some roads like malfunction junction, which cost taxpayers $3.4 million.
While local officials have tried everything to fill in the gaps, there is always those lawmakers who have decided to take a pass on funding money that comes from the government and can help the state. So things like expanding Lithia Pinecrest in Brandon won't happen or will be delayed for a long period to time to extra buses to help with the burdening of transportation. Not to mention that we could find a way to move the trolleys into an effective system and help those from the airport to the cruise terminals.
But that idea could be scraped along with the trolleys.
Bottom out
Tampa Bay ranks at the bottom for its transportation and transit. What should take 30 minutes to get to work from the Selmon Expressway ends up taking almost an hour. If you go from the Expressway to the connector for I-4 and I-275, it may take almost two hours to get to work.
Michael Case of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority told Tampa Bay Times that any chance we get to fight or compete for money that could help shorten commutes and make it less difficult to sit in traffic all day, we are often gridlocked and blaming old rivalries that pit counties and cities against each other and we're left with the trump change at the bottom of the barrel.
"We have no vision," Jeff Brandes of Saint Pete told Tampa Bay Times, "In Tampa Bay, we haven't built that foundation yet." Brandes is the Chair of the Senate Transportation Appropriations.
