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3 Agencies Reach Deal To Link I-4, Expressway

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 15, 2007

Blog: More Commuter News

TAMPA - A deal has been reached to finance the long-awaited connector road between Interstate 4 and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

The road is expected to cost $600 million. Construction is expected to begin in 2010 and take about four years to build. The cost to drive the mile-long bridge hasn't been set, but is expected to be from 25 cents to one dollar each way.

Under terms of the new financing deal, the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority will contribute $45 million to the construction costs, and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, the agency that operates most of the state's toll roads, will pitch in $80 million.

The state Department of Transportation will pick up the rest of the $600 million tab.

The expressway authority had offered $125 million toward the connection this past spring after the state made clear it was looking for financing partners to offset rising materials costs.

Stephen Reich, the authority's interim executive director at the time, estimated the agency could have recouped its investment by 2022 if tolls of 50 cents to $1 were charged.

But the DOT rejected that option after a series of meetings the past couple of months.

One objection was that the authority's existing debt and limited revenue during the first five years - after the bonds are sold but before the toll system starts paying off - would have increased the authority's financing costs by $20 million.

Secondly, Florida's Turnpike Enterprise had performed the necessary paperwork to bond its $80 million share of the project.

"The turnpike financing is in place and we don't want to take a chance to delay the project. They're ready to go," said Don Skelton, head of the state DOT district that includes the Tampa Bay area.

The decision was disappointing to the authority. The agency wanted to bond the entire amount so it could then set the toll rates for decades to come and keep the collections. But officials said they were satisfied a deal was set and the project will be built.

"The most important thing here is that this project gets done," said Joseph Waggoner, executive director of the expressway authority.

The sides now have to figure out how to divvy up the revenue.

So far, there's a tentative agreement that the expressway authority will collect 50 percent of the tolls for cars entering the connector from westbound I-4 and then proceeding west on the expressway. It could collect on cars heading in the opposite direction, too.

The agencies still have to figure out the rates drivers will pay to ride the mile-long road. Waggoner said the tolls probably would be collected electronically with an overhead gantry system.

The authority also must figure out whether to sell bonds to raise its share of the financing or apply for a low-interest state loan. It has about a year to get its financing in place.

A contractor for the project won't be selected until late 2009.

For two years the project was dogged by rising costs for concrete and steel, which prompted the state to enlist potential financing partners, the authority and turnpike enterprise.

Last year, two of the project's three phases, pegged at $221 million a year earlier, ballooned to $297 million.

Then in December, officials disclosed that the project's total cost, including engineering and right-of-way purchases, had increased from $475 million to $600 million.

To stay on schedule and split up the costs, the department turned to the expressway authority and turnpike enterprise.

Transportation officials have talked for at least 10 years about building a connector road to create another entry point into Tampa and divert truck traffic to Port Tampa off Ybor City streets.

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

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