By Lynn Hatter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-947445.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Will a High Speed Rail line come to Florida? That was the question asked to several high-ranking state officials and a U.S. Senator earlier in the week. The state has almost all of the money it needs to build to the train, but as Lynn Hatter reports, the question is, is it enough?
At the top of the state's capital building, standing before a group of over 100-reporters and editors, Florida Senator Bill Nelson pushed for a high speed rail system between Tampa and Orlando. Nelson spoke during the Associated Press legislative planning day which drew legislative leadership, cabinet members and the governor.
The federal government is picking up most of the tab to build a high speed rail system but the state has to come up with 280-million dollars to pay its share of the project. Nelson says the time to start is now.
"You cannot build enough lanes on I4 to accommodate the projected traffic increases over the next 30 years and there is no parallel road."
Nelson says a rail system could generate 24-thousand jobs over the next five years, and he spent a good amount of his time before reporters pushing the project. There's a lot of money on the line. The state has received more than 2.4-billion dollars for the project, partly because other states turned the money down.
"I'm hopeful the new governor, who will be here shortly, maybe he'll come here and announce plans from the state's standpoint to move ahead with the high speed rail."
But Governor Rick Scott didn't do that. He wants answers first.
"I want to see the ridership study. I want to see whether it's going to be profitable or not. Step 2, I want to understand It appears that there's a lot of interest in the private sector to fund that project. I want to understand whether they're going to fund it and what the terms of that will to be."
Scott says the remaining 280-million needed to get the rail project off the ground should be made up from private businesses. And Senate President Mike Haridopolos agrees. He's planning on challenging Nelson for his seat in the 2012 election cycle.
"Yesterday I was making the rounds and there were some different proposals coming through. I think the private-sector money is there. If not, we should just send it back to Washington. Because we can't afford 300-million dollars. We just can't afford it. I also think long-term costs are too high."
There is private sector interest in developing the rail line. And at least one other country wants to have a stake in it- Japan.
"And also I was very impressed by the governor's inaugural speech especially his commitment to creating jobs and once technology is adopted here, in High Speed Rail, we are committed and willing to provide our know-how in the transfer of technology to Florida in order to expand the local employment, and also, by providing opportunity in construction and maintenance of the neighborhood of the station."
That was Japan's foreign minister Seiji Meehara speaking through an interpreter during a visit with Scott last week.
But House Speaker Dean Cannon cautions while rail may be in Florida's future, it's still too soon to think of it as the means to revamp the state's transportation network.
"I don't think it will ever replace it. Florida's geography is so big, and it population so distributed, that it would never ever replace the interstate system or arterial road network. I think it can supplement it, but anyone who suggests that it could replace it, is just way off base."
Public support for the high speed rail project is mixed. A tax that would have gone to help finance a commuter rail system in Hillsboro County was defeated by voters there.