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Rail, Bus Dreams Are Years From Reality

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By RICH SHOPES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2007

TAMPA - A long-range transit plan approved Tuesday would have trains and buses crisscrossing Hillsborough County, but officials say the plan is decades - and billions of dollars - from being realized.

The Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization, a group federally mandated to create long-range plans, voted Tuesday to approve the rail and bus proposal, called the 2050 Transit Study.

"Today was very important because it is the beginning of the process to have a meaningful discussion about transit," MPO Executive Director Lucie Ayer said. "We are talking about major investments, and federal dollars will be involved."

The plan sketches out a grid of light-rail lines from Brandon to West Shore and the University of South Florida to downtown and South Tampa. Regional trains from St. Petersburg, Lakeland and Sarasota would connect to the system. Buses and streetcars or trolleys in downtown Tampa would link to it, too.

Whether any element is carried out has yet to be seen. No agency has committed to the $6.1 billion network and no funding has been set aside to build it.

The MPO's vote could be significant, however, because any agency that looks to create a transit network in Hillsborough must use the MPO plan as a starting point if the agency wants matching federal dollars.

Ayer said the plan next will go to the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, which is developing a long-range transportation plan for Hillsborough and six other West Florida counties by July 2009.

The plan could have significant influence on future development and land-use patterns, officials said.

Mary Mulhern, an MPO member and Tampa councilwoman, said that in cities with new rail systems, developers have converged on those areas, sensing they'd be attractive to residents and shopkeepers. As a result, densities in those areas have increased.

Many residents might welcome that trend, but others in Tampa might object, Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair said.

In other business, residents asked that a controversial bypass be removed from long-range plans. The MPO's policy committee will consider that request Nov. 20.

"I'm confident it will be taken out," MPO Chairman Joe Affronti said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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