Columbia County Observer | M-CORES: Proposed New Toll Roads Threaten Rural Florida and is a Bad Deal for Floridians
Columbia County Observer | M-CORES: Proposed New Toll Roads Threaten Rural Florida and is a Bad Deal for Floridians By Lindsay Cross
Excerpt: “A prudent person looks first for a strong and secure foundation upon which to build a house. This process is attempting to slap together a McMansion on a sinkhole. Floridians overwhelmingly are against these Roads To Ruin. Nobody has demonstrated that the roads are needed or that we can pay for them. Task Force members should not sign onto a consensus report unless it includes “No Build.””
ampa Bay Times | Kill these 3 toll roads to nowhere before they do real harm
Tampa Bay Times | Kill these 3 toll roads to nowhere before they do real harm By Richard Grosso
The Florida Legislature should put a stop to the unnecessary, unaffordable and destructive proposal to add three major new toll roads to the Florida Turnpike System. These projects, dubbed “Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance,” or M-CORES, threaten the fiscal viability of our existing transportation system. No study shows new toll roads are needed or are economically beneficial. New roads will almost certainly pave over some of the last remaining natural and rural regions of Florida, priming those areas for development and environmental destruction.he Florida Legislature should put a stop to the unnecessary, unaffordable and destructive proposal to add three major new toll roads to the Florida Turnpike System.
Orland Sentinel | New toll roads pose a threat to a less spoiled part of Florida
Orland Sentinel | New toll roads pose a threat to a less spoiled part of Florida By Temperince Morgan
Excerpt: The springs, rivers, estuaries, forests and farms of the Nature Coast are priceless resources that distinguish this region of our state from the congestion and overdevelopment of peninsular Florida. Building major toll roads through this sensitive landscape threatens the unique character of The Other Florida.
PRESS RELEASE: M-CORES: A DETOUR AROUND ACCOUNTABILITY Released by 1000 Friends of Florida and Sierra Club
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2020
Contacts: David Cullen, Sierra Club Lobbyist, Sierra Club Florida Chapter, 941-323-2404, Cullenasea@aol.com
Vivian Young, AICP, Communications Director, 1000 Friends of Florida, 850-264-4090, vyoung@1000fof.org
1000 Friends of Florida and Sierra Club Florida Chapter Release
M-CORES: A Detour Around Accountability
August 20, 2020 —1000 Friends of Florida and Sierra Club Florida Chapter have partnered on a just-released paper, M-CORES: A Detour Around Accountability, on financial and procedural issues associated with the M-CORES toll roads. It draws attention to the lack of ongoing gubernatorial and legislative oversight for a project that could cost upwards of $26.4 billion over the next decade, without any preliminary determination of need or financial feasibility.
Major findings include:
- Various segments of M-CORES have been planned since the early 2000s, only to be shot down by Govs. Charlie Crist and Rick Scott and the Florida Department of Transportation due to lack of financial feasibility.
- The M-CORES legislation was skillfully crafted to incorporate the project into FDOT’s five-year work program. This means it is virtually impossible for the Legislature or Gov. DeSantis to halt M-CORES without specific legislation to that effect.
- The project bypassed the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Corridor Planning Process, meaning that the project is barreling forward without any preliminary determination of need or financial feasibility.
- The entire project could cost $26.4 billion or more over the next 10 years, based on numbers developed by the independent Florida TaxWatch and costs for Florida’s Wekiva Parkway.
- In the last (2019-20) and current (2020-21) fiscal years, $142.5 million has already been allocated for the M-CORES toll roads, again without any determination of need or feasibility.
- Motorized vehicle owners across Florida are subsidizing M-CORES, to the tune of $57.7 million this year alone.
- Florida toll road users from across the state are also significantly subsidizing M-CORES, including $50 million this year alone being reallocated from turnpike tolls to M-CORES, taking money from needed repairs and improvements to toll roads in other parts of the state.
- Due to the impacts of COVID-19, state economists have slashed $5.4 billion from expected state revenue over the next two years, and an additional $1.49 billion (about 5.7%) decrease in funds going into the State Transportation Trust Fund over the next five years, which is a primary source of M-CORES funding.
- Because M-CORES funding is channeled through FDOT’s five-year work program, if the project proceeds as intended, it will siphon money away from much-needed transportation projects from across the state also included in the work program.
For these reasons, 1000 Friends of Florida and the Sierra Club are calling on Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to take action during the upcoming Special Session or during the 2021 Florida Legislative Session to cease funding Florida M-CORES to allow our state to address much more pressing needs.
Full report: https://1000fof.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2008-M-CORES-A-DETOUR-AROUND-ACCOUNTABILITY-FINAL.pdf
Press release: https://1000fof.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/201820-mcores-budget-press-release-FINAL.pdf
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Letter to the Editor: New toll roads aren’t a priority for Florida
Letter to the Editor: New toll roads aren’t a priority for Florida | Palm Beach Post
In a recent Point of View (July 27), a mother advocated for the proposed M-CORES (Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance) toll roads project by saying she would like her children to “live in a world that rebounds economically from the pandemic and is set up for success.”
She is misguided. Agricultural land, vital to our state and national food security needs to be protected, not paved over. Florida’s existing infrastructure is crumbling; it is ranked 40th nationwide in overall cost-effectiveness and condition. That should be fixed before spending $117 million on new toll roads.
The Legislature, considering the impacts of the pandemic to our state economy and the thousands suffering job loss, hunger, and illness, should instead direct that $117 million to critical state needs.
Why would taxpayers pay for 330 miles of unneeded toll roads when the public health emergencies and our devastated economy need so much attention? Call off M-CORES and redirect Florida’s tax dollars where they are needed.
Sheila Calderon, Greenacres
Read the full letter here.
Task force members still confused about process, need for proposed toll roads
Task force members still confused about process, need for proposed toll roads
By Chad Gillis
Fort Myers News-Press, Naples Daily News, Marco Eagle
Excerpt: Some task force members planning for a mandated toll road from just south of Orlando to the Naples area seemed confused Thursday as to why they are considering the roadway at all...Unlike other major roadways, the idea for this and two other toll roads came from lawmakers, not from DOT engineers and planners — as is typically the case.
Task force members have pointed that fact out in past meetings.
Some attending Thursday's online Florida Department of Transportation meeting simply want to put the brakes on a project that was signed into law late in the 2019 legislative session.
"If you look at the governor’s website, he has literally issued hundreds of executive orders changing how things are happening," said Andrew Dickman, a task force member representing 1,000 Friends of Florida. "He has the authority to slow things down, even pause it. We’re barreling toward the deadline and in no way is this the appropriate method."
Read more.
Note: The TaxWatch report referenced in the articles below may be downloaded here.
The Suncoast Connector: What We Still Need to Know | Florida Tax Watch
The Suncoast Connector: What We Still Need to Know | Florida Tax Watch
Excerpt: While much remains unknown about the specifics of the Suncoast Parkway (including the exact route of the road) this Florida TaxWatch report examines the potential costs and long-term financial challenges and obligations of constructing the Suncoast Connector portion of the M-CORES program. Essentially, this analysis focuses on the need for, cost of, and revenue potential from the Suncoast Connector toll road as an expansion of Florida’s Turnpike System.
These questions are especially important because the turnpike system is generally self-financing through tolls paid by users and little or no state and local tax dollars flow to the turnpike system for maintenance or even recovery of building costs. This user-fee-based arrangement makes the turnpike system both beneficial for taxpayers and the financial wellbeing of the Florida Turkpike System. State law even recognizes the vital importance of protecting this financial arrangement by requiring an economic feasibility test for new projects so the system does not become overloaded with costs and debt, which could eventually require a bailout.
Excerpt from the linked report: “it is highly doubtful that the new road would produce the necessary toll revenue to support the bonds to pay for it, at least with toll rates in-line with the rest of the Turnpike, and COVID-19 increases financial concerns dramatically.” -page 29.
Read the original post with a link to download the full report on Florida TaxWatch's website.
Let’s plan for the future — stop the Legislature’s new toll roads | Commentary
Let’s plan for the future — stop the Legislature’s new toll roads | Commentary
By Vivian Young | Orlando Sentinel | Jul 16 2020, 2020 AT 7:00 AM
The geology of areas where Florida plans to build new highways is marked by springs and other important natural features, 1000 Friends of Florida writes. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
Last year, the Texas A&M Traffic Institute reported that Orlando commuters spent an average of 57 hours a year stuck in traffic, with an average “congestion cost” of more than $1,000 a year per commuter. And Florida is facing an ever-worsening water crisis, withdrawing unsustainable amounts of water from the Floridan Aquifer to accommodate existing and new development, and experiencing regular outbreaks of algal blooms reflecting seriously declining water quality.
In Central Florida alone, the three water management districts that share responsibility for the region have together approved groundwater withdrawal permits for about 300 million gallons a day more than what is sustainable from the Floridan Aquifer. In light of this, it would seem wise for the state to do all in its power to protect its vulnerable water supply.
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