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Dade City Worried About Effect Of CSX Commuter Line

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By LAURA KINSLER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2009

DADE CITY - City Commissioners are keeping an eye on Tallahassee as state legislators debate the $1.2 billion commuter rail deal with railroad giant CSX.

The 61-mile commuter rail line around Orlando would have a direct effect on Dade City because dozens of additional freight trains could be rerouted directly through the town on their way to a massive new rail hub in Winter Haven.

City Commissioner Curtis Beebe worries that Dade City has been too slow to anticipate the problems additional rail traffic on the "S-line" could bring. The plan includes about $300 million for CSX to make improvements on the S-line to accommodate as many as 54 trains a day.

"[Fifty-four] trains a day means we're going to have a train every half-hour," Beebe said. "If it takes 10 minutes for the train to pass, what is that going to mean for our traffic? This is a big issue, and we need to get out ahead of it."

It's not uncommon for trains to block traffic for 20 minutes or more around the Dade City Business Center, an office and industrial/manufacturing park on U.S. 301. That section has the only existing segment of dual tracks in the area. Transportation officials say the railroad would add new dual tracks north and south of Dade City if the plan goes through.

While some cities in Alachua, Sumter and Marion counties would get new rail overpasses as part of the deal, the plan includes no improvements for railroad crossings in Dade City.

Beebe said he's especially concerned about the functionality of Dade City's U.S. 98 Bypass, which runs parallel to the train tracks. He predicts the bypass traffic will get congested near busy railroad crossings, such as River Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard. The two-lane Bypass does not have turn lanes at those intersections.

"Those crossings will be blocked," Beebe said. "Any cars that want to cross over will have to wait on the Bypass."

The Florida Department of Transportation does not plan any improvements to U.S. 98 Bypass in the near future.

"We need to negotiate with DOT now to widen the Bypass because the trains back up the traffic," Mayor Scott Black said. "We need some kind of overpass."

Beebe also worries about the noise that would come with the additional freight trains. "People say after a while, you don't hear it anymore," he said. "Maybe if you have four or five a day, it's kind of romantic or old fashioned or soothing. But 54 a day?"

Ming Gao, Multi-Modal Systems administrator for DOT, will brief commissioners at their meeting this Tuesday. The commission has scheduled a workshop for March 24 on the subject.

State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, has been a vocal critic of the CSX deal, which would send those same freight trains through downtown Lakeland.

"Even if commuter rail goes through, I think the communities along the S-line could say we don't want those capacity improvements," Dockery said. "Why are we, the taxpayers, making capacity improvements for a for-profit company so they can lessen our quality of life?"

Black, who chairs Pasco County's Metropolitan Planning Organization, believes Dade City is in a good position to be able to ask for concessions. But he doesn't want to rock the boat too hard.

"We need to think regionally on this," Black said. "We may not want more trains running through town, but we don't want to prevent Tampa from having mass transit."

Beebe said he respects Black's position. "I understand, Scott is trying to be a good regional citizen," he said. "But to me, just as a resident and a citizen, I think the whole deal is kind of stinky."

Dockery said it's not too late for Dade City to lobby its legislators for some transportation improvements, but the city is unlikely to get a rail overpass. "I don't see where the money is going to be available," she said.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 779-4617.

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