On Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the Florida Senate Transportation Committee was scheduled to meet, an amendment was filed to Senate Bill 1866. The amendment would have major negative impacts on the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority's (THEA) ability to function independently and significantly limit local control.
The amendment would give the Florida Department of Transportation control of toll operations and financing of local toll authorities. This means DOT would have control of the tolls local expressways collect and place the approval on how projects are funded in the hands of Tallahassee bureaucrats. It also would grow the size of state bureaucracy.
Local toll authorities exist for the good of the region. With THEA in place, we have become more self-reliant and less dependent on state tax dollars for needed highway infrastructure. DOT wants to take our success and bury it in its behemoth organization.
Local agencies have a greater responsiveness to local needs and priorities, more flexible financing, and are more likely to come up with innovative solutions to congestion, such as THEA's international award-winning reversible express lanes on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway. Do we really want bureaucratic planners deciding important decisions such as future plans for the Selmon and how it supports our military community in Brandon and at MacDill Air Force Base?
How can Tallahassee know better what our needs are? They can't. We will not be better off with their decision process.
Local toll authorities are necessary to ensure that a timely quality product with appropriate levels of service, local accountability and local control are provided to those using these urban facilities. I urge you to contact your legislators in support of THEA.
Bob Rohrlack
Tampa
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