Editorial: Perhaps the best idea is for I-75 panel to yield ‘authority’

Naples Daily News

Interesting concept. Building a lane for traffic in the middle of Interstate 75 that could be switched from northbound to southbound traffic to suit demand.

The concept is used in other places, and at least one in Florida, Tampa, reports success.

It might have promise for our area too — as long as it does not involve tolling lanes five and six to pay for it, and if it really would make enough of a difference to be worth doing at all, especially if it takes an investment of $625,000 or even $300,000 from Collier County taxpayers to explore. These days that’s big money, and lots of other local government endeavors — libraries, to name one — would love to have it.

The record shows the mission of the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority has been a work in progress since it was authorized by the Florida Legislature and the Lee and Collier county commissions appointed members three years ago. What started as adding lanes beyond five and six as toll lanes — a mission still posted on the Web site — turned into making five and six toll lanes to pay for the others — as few as two or as many as four — even if that meant different numbers of lanes in each county. Then another road, known as Collier Boulevard in the Naples area and County Road 951 in Lee County, was mentioned as a possibility. Then the single, reversible lane in the median, which has been long described as the future domain of light rail.

With the addition of lanes on other north-south roads and with taxpayers already funding lanes five and six, Collier’s stand against double-charging motorists to use that expansion has been wise and so far solid — and backed by U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, who helped secure I-75’s federal funding, and attendees at a League of Women Voters of Collier County forum where both sides were represented. Lee commissioners, while not formally committed either way, are more inclined to do whatever it takes to add more lanes.

We invite the attention of both counties to a new wrinkle from the Florida Department of Transportation. After announcing that no money beyond the $431 million for today’s six-laning would be forthcoming, the FDOT now says it is earmarking $32 million more to restore 11/2 previously trimmed miles in Lee, from Colonial Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Another interesting concept: the state meeting its commitment to improve a state road.

Sooner or later the counties that are supposed to control the expressway authority ought to ask whether it is needed now that Job 1 is out of the picture.

***********************

Guest commentary: Expressway Authority scrambles for tolls to justify itself

Gary Eidson  Naples Daily News November 23, 2007

The Southwest Florida Expressway Authority seems to be in disarray.

SWFEA seems to be struggling to rush through its Interstate 75 toll-lane project. The members do not appear to have the full support of the Lee or Collier county commissions. SWFEA members are questioning if the toll project can or should proceed without the support of either local government and their respective Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

When asked why the traffic projections of the Wilbur Smith consulting firm are so much different from projections of URS, the firm that did the initial analysis for the Florida Turnpike Enterprise, Wilbur Smith responds that its future traffic count estimates are usually close to URS estimates. But not in this case. Projections are 34 percent to 65 percent higher. That makes it appear that there is an indisputable need for the 10-lane road. It also serves as justification for this project.

SWFEA is struggling over express lanes and high-volume occupancy lane designations. Members are not sure if they can charge a toll on lanes with those designations or not. A legal interpretation of the ability of SWFEA to toll contradicted the opinion of Florida Department of Transportation District Secretary Stan Cann and his current experiences with tolling interstate highway projects. A year and a half into the project, with over $1 million spent by the SWFEA organization, and they are just now addressing the legalities of whether they can toll a roadway built with our tax funds or not.

SWFEA board members have become vested in promoting “their project.’’ It appears that the grave concern by SWFEA now is how to justify their existence. They push furiously to get something tolled in hopes the authority can expand to include Collier and Charlotte counties.

Taxpayers get to foot the entry fee by paying tolls and gas tax dollars to help build tollways — tollways which cost four to five times more than freeways. Tollways to generate decade upon decade of profit for private investors. Profit that only occurs if the projected traffic appears and if the subsequent projected revenues occur.

SWFEA’s consultant addressed concerns about outside companies leasing the highway. In current transportation jargon, those companies are called P3s — or public-private partnerships — a euphemism for profit-making private businesses. The consultant indicated that if the toll-road project failed, it would not matter because it would be a loss to the P3 and the counties would not be liable. Not so.

The public loses because coveted transportation dollars will all go to one failed project. The I-75 10-lane expansion puts all our eggs in one basket — one mega-highway susceptible to shut down by one mega-accident, one drought-induced smoke-producing fire, or one hazardous spill. The public deserves to have coveted transportation dollars spent on alternative north-south routes; routes located east of I-75; routes located where growth is occurring and will continue to occur.

I thought we had a federal interstate freeway system. The government is taking steps to turn it into a federal interstate tollway system. Tollways to help investors make a profit from the driving public. This concept is failing throughout the state and the country.

The money spent on underwriting SWFEA would be better spent lobbying Washington to give us our fair share of gas taxes we send them every time each one of us fills up the tank.

***************

Lee forges ahead with I-75 toll lane study

Despite a presentation by Collier residents opposing tolling, commissioners vote to keep looking at it as a way to fund more highway expansion

By Julio Ochoa   Naples Daily News   December 11, 2007

A group of concerned Collier County citizens traveled to Fort Myers on Tuesday morning to air their concerns about Interstate 75 turning into a costly toll road.

The Lee County commissioners politely listened to a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation.

And then continued on the expected path.

Lee commissioners approved a motion Tuesday to further study the prospect of tolling lanes 5 and 6, which the state is constructing now, to build four more toll lanes.

Though the vote will keep the project moving forward, Commissioner Frank Mann emphasized that the decision does not give a green light to tolling.

“I’m not voting to toll anything at this time,” Mann said. “I want to see what comes from this investment grade study.”

Still, Mann and others on the board said tolling may be the only way to build the additional lanes that will absolutely be needed in the future.

Current studies say by 2010 I-75 in Lee County will function poorly even with two additional lanes.

“It’s a disaster situation today,” Mann said. “Even with slow growth that we’re experiencing right now it’s not going to get better. “If this commission doesn’t deal with it, it’s going to be a future commission real soon that does.”

The vote came despite opposition from the Citizens Transportation Coalition of Collier County.

Gary Eidson, North Naples activist and chairman of the group, presented a PowerPoint presentation showing the pitfalls of tolling. Research provided by CTC stated the person who travels I-75 five days a week will pay $82 a week in tolls, adding up to over $4,000 a year.

Eidson said the toll lanes will be unnecessary with Livingston Road/Imperial Parkway and the eventual State Road 951 extending between Collier and Lee County. The group said Tuesday morning’s fatal accident on I-75 near the Daniels Parkway intersection demonstrated why alternative routes and not more lanes is the traffic solution.

“Why rush to ten lanes — ten lanes justified by doomsday scenario with wildly optimistic projections?” Eidson asked the commissioners.

The traffic studies already done for the authority do not consider the 951 extension. The studies use the adopted Financially Feasible Plan, which includes projects for which the county or state have identified funding.

Collier County commissioners, with the exception of Jim Colletta, have been against the idea tolling of I-75.

They have not taken a formal vote, but are scheduled to do so in January.

Lee commissioners did hear from many supporters of tolling.

Bill Barton, the head of the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority, Joel Whittenhall, of the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce transportation committee; Phil Douglas and Don Eslick, of the Estero Council of Community Leaders; and Kitty Green, CEO of the Bonita Bay Group and another Expressway Authority board member, all spoke in favor of moving ahead with paid travel through Southwest Florida.

“I am delighted we are being proactive in finding a way to fund I-75,” Green said. “Voting against tolling is voting for gridlock.”

The Lee commission’s vote was anything but stalled, with Brian Bigelow casting the only “no.”

Commissioner Bob Janes reiterated the vote isn’t for only study and doesn’t mean toll booths are being erected just yet.

“The reason we have to partake in an investment study is because there have been a number of questions that have been asked,” Janes said. “The key issue is whether or not we ought to support an investment grade study.”

The authority was created by legislative act in 2005. Its first plan was to toll lanes 6 through 10, using the proceeds to pay for the work. Consultants, including state toll entity Florida Turnpike Enterprise, said that scheme wasn’t financially feasible. Only by tolling lanes 5 and 6 — work for which the state and federal governments have already provided funding — can the ten-laning work.

*************

I-75 tolls: Consultants refute claims projections are padded

By Charlie Whitehead    Naples Daily News    November 21, 2007

Consultants for the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority defended themselves this week against charges they’ve over-stated the expected growth and traffic demands to prop up the case for tolls on Interstate 75.

Adrin Share, of the firm of Wilbur Smith Associates, pointed to recent coverage of claims by the Naples political action committee Citizens Transportation Coalition.

“They’ve written and said much about the forecasting efforts, for want of a better word accusations if you will, that our firm and URS are both overstating the growth and demand,” he said to the authority board.

Share said challenging the assumption that tolls will be needed to widen the interstate beyond 6 lanes challenges the very reason the authority was created.

“When you consider the very basis of the expressway authority’s existence it’s that traffic demand exceeds the ability of traditional revenue sources to keep up,” he said.

The CTC met with media editorial boards and shared information with all 10 Lee and Collier commissioners and all 9 members of the authority board just before the board's Nov. 16 meeting. Gary Eidson, president of CTC, said the members had hoped to respond to Share's comments but the public comment period was shunted to the end of the lengthy agenda and some authority members had already left.

“They said they’d do it at the end, but it never ended,” Eidson said.

Share said the growth projections on which traffic-demand estimates are based are not those of the company but of local governments. He acknowledged that the firm’s own numbers are different from the projections done for Florida Turnpike Enterprise, the state’s tolling authority, but said a more detailed investor-grade revenue study will be necessary before any project goes forward.

He also said any risk of toll revenue not covering the cost would be assumed by investors, not taxpayers or toll-payers.

“The risk is for the investors,” he said.

Eidson said that’s no way to run a battleship.

“Look around the country and find out what happened to people who kept that attitude,” he admonished. “And even if there are tolls there’s going to be state and federal assistance. That money could be spent on other roads needed in other parts of the county.”

A hefty package of information CTC is circulating includes newspaper accounts from other areas where toll road have met with mixed success.

“What I think dawned on me is they’ve taken numbers they created and said therefore there’s a problem. Therefore we have to have more lanes and we have to have tolls,” Eidson said. “It just makes no sense to me at all.”

Eidson said he also questions the assumption that without tolls there will be no money to widen the interstate past six lanes. He said he wants to meet with U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, who has also questioned that assumption.

“Ten years ago we would have never thought we’d have the money to do what we’re doing now,” Eidson said.

Eidson said the group is convinced tolls are a bad idea, and will continue the fight.

“We’re going full bore here,” he said.

The Expressway Authority isn’t going away either.

“The ‘If we don’t build it they won’t come’ premise just doesn’t work,” Share said.

********************************

Citigroup floats public-private partnership idea to get roads built

By Charlie Whitehead    Naples Daily News   December 27, 2007

Citigroup is telling Lee County commissioners it might have an answer to the county’s road-building deficit.

In a letter delivered to commissioners just before Christmas, the company proposes a public-private partnership through which the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority would take ownership of the three county toll bridges. In return the county would get up-front funding — perhaps as much as $1 billion — to build roads now.

“We believe that Lee County has a unique opportunity to accelerate the construction of a number of critical county transportation projects by 10-20 years,” said the letter, signed by corporate officers Raymond Noga, Michael Hole and Ron Marino.

“There have been some talking about it,” said Scott Gilbertson, transportation director for the county. “Citigroup was one of them.”

Gilbertson said he was unaware of the details of any specific proposal, but more than one group had broached the topic of public-private partnerships, so-called P3s, which some say is the wave of the future for major infrastructure projects.

Commissioner Tammy Hall is the county representative on the Expressway Authority. She said she’s heard from Citigroup and others about possible P3s.

“At this point I don’t even have enough information to say,” she said. “But the county’s done a very good job with the bridges. We’re not looking to raise the tolls on the bridges.”

In a P3, tolls can be indexed to the cost of living, Hall said, which can mean higher tolls.

“I’m not sold on P3s in general, though I know the governor thinks they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread,” she said.

In fact the Legislature just this year acted to make it easier for local governments to make such deals.

“My mind is always open to new ideas on transportation,” Hall said. “But when bridges become revenue sources you look at tolls. That affects Colonial, Burnt Store, Del Prado, Cape Coral Parkway ... there would have to be some serious number-crunching.”

The county has three toll bridges: the Sanibel Causeway, Cape Coral Bridge and Midpoint Memorial Bridge. The Cape Coral Bridge produced $17.5 million in tolls in 2006 and the Midpoint produced $18 million. The rebuilt Sanibel Causeway opened just this year.

According to the Citigroup proposal the existing $192 million in bond debt on the three bridges could be paid off, with subsequent toll collections going to pay for non-toll projects.

Ken Heatherington is executive director of the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council and an Expressway board member. He said Citigroup officials have spoken to him about P3 proposals, but not in specifics.

“I’m interested in what they have to say,” he said. “But I’m still skeptical about the future.”

Heatherington said he recalls reading good and bad things about such partnerships. The Citigroup letter admits as much. Both the $1.8 billion 99-year concession of the 8-mile Chicago Skyway and the $3.8 billion 75-year concession of the Indiana Toll Road, it says, have sparked criticism.

“In addition to provoking toll entities to evaluate P3 opportunities, the Skyway and ITR transactions also spurred a significant political backlash against the leasing of American infrastructure to foreign consortiums,” it says.

Other Florida P3 possibilities exist as well, with the state eyeing a deal for the Sunshine Skyway as well as Alligator Alley.

“We're struggling with a huge transportation budget trying to figure out how to maintain it,” Hall said. “Impact fees aren't going to cut it. The Legislature gave us a local option sales tax, but it takes a referendum. There are a lot of things we need to look at. This is one more tool in the toolbox.”

Heatherington said care must be taken because of the term of such deals.

“It's our kids’ future we’re talking about when we do these things,” he said.

**************

Toll schemes threaten public interest, public dollars
Ft. Myers News Press   Guest Opinion by Gary Eidson for CTC   Naples Dec. 10, 2007

Toll schemes threaten public interest, dollars

When do we stop building roads because they are needed and start building roads because there is a profit to be made? Any minute in Florida. Governor Crist signed a bill that was to be the panacea for all our transportation ills. Unfortunately, it was a very short-sighted solution. Another quick government fix which will burden generations of taxpayers.

We are told we need more roadways. Fair enough. How many more roadways, where and when? That is the more difficult query. To whom do we turn for a reliable and accurate answer that correctly weighs in demographic, economic and environmental factors?

The new Southwest Florida Expressway Authority, SWFEA, turned to a consultant. For over $400,000, the consultant affirmed the underpinning of SWFEA's existence: Southwest Florida needs toll roads. According to the report, drivers will be facing certain gridlock on Interstate 75 unless it is expanded to 10 lanes. There is no money to build the extra six lanes. Instead, there is a guaranteed-not-to-fail, won't-cost-you-a-penny plan to have an investor build the needed lanes. The investor will be reimbursed with tolls. Many of these leases to investors are for 99 years.

Recent toll cost projections show that a commuter who crosses three zones (in as little as 15 miles) can expect to pay several thousand dollars a year in tolls. At the highest variable rate, they can expect to pay almost $5,000 annually for the privilege of driving in the less crowded toll lanes. It is difficult to ascertain exactly what the toll rates will be. The rate seems to be a moving target. One representative will say between 8 cents and 28 cents per mile. Another will disclose that it could be up to 40 cents per mile. Written reports reveal figures over a dollar a mile. It's immaterial. There is no such thing as a per mile charge. The project uses variable zone pricing. And it's called variable pricing for a reason. The price varies as the quantity of traffic varies. In other words, as the traffic increases, the toll increases. When you need it most, it costs you the most.

The main parameter for this project has always been: Which scenario produces the most revenue? Not: Which scenario provides the most relief to traffic? Projections are made with a simple calculation: Number of vehicles multiplied by the Toll rate = Revenue. SWFEA's consultants say the revenue projections are valid based of their vehicle number projections. The trouble is, the crystal ball they used to guesstimate how many cars would be using I-75 in the future differs considerably from another crystal ball. Their traffic projections are 34 to 65 percent higher than the projections of another consultant who recently looked at the same project.

SWFEA is rushing to put a toll on the two new lanes under construction and paid for with our tax dollars, in hopes the authority can expand to include Collier and Charlotte County. Why the rush? Because I-75 is about to increase capacity by one third. It may be that expanding the road capacity of I-75 by two additional lanes will be adequate.

In 2005 we had only 8 north-south lanes between Lee and Collier County. By 2010 we will have 16 north-south lanes. Three Oaks will connect to Livingston in Collier County. Tree Line is up and running and expansion is planned for 6 Mile Cypress to Ortiz. 951 is about to double in Collier County. Those roadways are referred to as 'competing roads' by profit seeking toll authorities. They were built with taxpayers dollars, not funds from profit seeking investors.

We pay for our Interstate highway system with our gas tax dollars. Now they want us to foot the entry fee by paying both tolls AND gas tax dollars to build toll ways which cost four to five times more to construct than freeways, which add millions in operating and equipment costs.

There is also the safety concern. The I-75, 10 lane expansion puts all our eggs in one mega-highway susceptible to being shut down by one mega-accident, one smoke-producing fire, or one hazardous spill.

New lanes need to be planned east of I-75, further inland where growth is occurring and will continue to occur.

Let's take a deep breath and put on the brakes. Allow lanes 5 and 6 to open. Allow additional north-south routes to take additional pressure off of I-75.

Citizens can help stop this project now. On Tuesday Dec 11, at 9:30 AM, The Lee County Commissioners will be meeting in the Old Court House on Main Street, downtown Ft. Myers. Voice your opinion. If you cant come send an email. Stop the tolls. Stop the selling of our Interstate.