A roadmap to reshape economy, travel

Florida will be the third-largest state by 2014. We need a plan to deal with our traffic woes beyond simply spending tax money on widening roads. The referendum on rail transit and other transportation needs allows the voters to finally address our congestion issues.

Our local economy must address congestion to create the high-wage jobs I have spent years working to bring to the Tampa Bay area. Companies looking to relocate or expand their operations put transit as their top priority - and we rank at the bottom on this count.

Congested roads do not attract businesses, and they chase away college graduates looking for a place to live that offers more than retirement subdivisions sprawled out over 1,000 square miles. The Surface Transportation Policy Partnership ranked Tampa the second-most dangerous place in the nation for pedestrians - again, a poor calling card for attracting high-wage businesses.

Other points to consider:

•We have approximately $16 billion in failed roads today. If we spent $16 billion now to fix those roads (which is impossible), they would still be a grade "D," and that does not even address future growth.

•The cost of the proposed 1-cent sales tax to the average citizen is less than the impact of the 30-cent jump in fuel prices we have experienced in the last three weeks over the course of one year (or $85 dollars). We must provide some alternatives to people who now spend on average $2,100 per year to pay for gas - with an $800 jump each time fuel prices increase $1.

One erroneous e-mail suggested the cost is over $400 per family. The actual estimate is $140 - or $85 per person, which is dwarfed by the costs of rising fuel prices.

•Transit means doubling our bus fleet, building flex systems for the county and also creating bus circulators for Brandon, New Tampa, WestChase and South County, to name but a few areas. We currently have just 230 buses covering 1,000 square miles. Dallas has over 540 buses and 700 square miles. Phoenix and Charlotte have turned around their bus systems because they are safe and have well-lit stops and much better frequency.

People with options will not ride a system that performs like a social welfare program, but they will ride one that has enough fleet units to reduce wait time at our stops and takes you where you need to go rapidly. It is a no-brainer.

•Twenty-five percent of the money from this referendum will go to address our road problems (about $40 million to $50 million a year) and will be paid by everyone, including tourists.

•Our critics charge that less than 2 percent of our local riders will use the rail portion of the system daily. This is deceptive. Remember, only 37 percent of the tax will go to rail, with the rest going to buses and roads.

Only 3.1 percent of our local riders use Interstate 275. Would you ever suggest we do away with this interstate? One very vocal opponent, David Caton, provides an alternative for I-275, which will cost billions to fix. It is to widen the road. How wide? Sixteen lanes? Because that is what it will take to make certain it is not constrained by 2035.

Our plan calls for a much smarter use of existing right of way - by adding capacity with rail along existing right of way, which works now in Dallas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Charlotte, to name a few cities.

How many of our 1.2 million residents drive Bruce B. Downs Boulevard each day? The answer is far less than 2 percent. I drove this road last Sunday, and there is absolutely no way to raise enough tax money to widen it in a manner that will relieve congestion. This is but one reason why the Pasco County commissioners voted 5-0 last week to endorse our initiative.

•Our solution brings $1.2 billion back in fare box money. The "do-nothing" argument brings us nothing.

•Transit stops create real jobs. The cities I have named all are reaping billions in transit-oriented development (approximately $6 for every $1 invested in transit). How many businesses want to establish themselves along a 10- lane highway? It's far better to find a location where transit (both bus and rail) works with our roads to provide options. Remember, where you have fixed stops you have unlimited customers, which means businesses will locate along those stops, avoiding the more far-flung reaches of the county. This in turn saves the taxpayer money, as we do not have to support expensive services beyond key transportation corridors.

•How do we ever create jobs to fix our local economic mess by ignoring our current congestion ills? Businesses relocating to cities want transit options for their employees - not sprawl. We are a sprawl community, created in part by the same voices who now want to stifle any attempt to resolve this mess.

The USF area - with Moffitt cancer center, the VA hospital, the Byrd Alzheimer's center, Pepin Heart and USF - holds the key. When we link them to our downtown area, the WestShore shopping district and the airport (by rail), to Sun City Center, Brandon, New Tampa, WestChase, Town 'N Country, Carrollwood and South Tampa - by rail, bus, circulars and improved roads - we will have a far better quality of life than we enjoy today, and our kids will thank us.