West Bay Parkway - [Update: Planning Phase Underway]

[beachFool]

The 331 bridge needs to be 4 lanes (and divided) and it needs to not be funded on the backs of the working people who are already shelling out $$ for fuel to commute to work.

Can we reduce the bed tax by .05% and add a .05% out of state bridge charge?[/QUOTE]

It's my understanding FL statutes prohibit "local discounts" for tolls.

I'm not sure though.

 

[mputnal]

A four lane bridge for 331 will help only in emergency evacuations. If it is a toll bridge it may negatively impact the local economy. We need the bridge but we do not need the economic impact of it being a toll bridge. I do not know how the new bridge would be paid for but I have a suggestion. BP will wind up weaseling out of paying most of that 20 billion dollar fund. Before they give the 15 billion or so back in dividends to stockholders and bonues to executives why not hire that attorney for Casey Anthony to prove how the oil spill damaged the 331 bridge?

 

[beachmouse]

It's my understanding FL statutes prohibit "local discounts" for tolls.

I'm not sure though.

If you aren't writing the rules to explicitly target locals/tourists, then effective local discounts are just fine. Many peninsula toll roads have a Sunpass commuter discount- after X number of trips on the road in a month, you get a 10-20% rebate and the Sunpass discount for the Mid Bay Bridge is effectively a legacy from when you got a $1 discount per trip for buying paper monthly coupon books for bridge crossings.

 

[Abby Prentiss]

I wish we still had a ferry.

 

[beachFool]

There are definitely some "bridges to nowhere" that haven't paid for themselves. Seems like some crookedness. Does anyone doubt that a 331 toll road would pay for itself though?

Item 1: Don't think existing free roads (331) can be converted to tollroads.



Item 2: RE: Mid-Bay Bridge per Carr, Riggs & Ingram audit

When the bridge system was initially constructed, the Authority executed a lease with the
FDOT. Under the terms of the lease, when all of the debt related to the bridge was paid
off, ownership of the bridge reverted to the FDOT. Therefore, the Authority accounted for
the transaction as a direct financing lease. During 2009, the Authority began to consider
the substance of this transaction and the likelihood that bonds will always be outstanding
due to continuous expansion of the system. Following this conclusion, the Authority
decided to change its accounting principle and record the bridge as a capital asset in the​

financial statements and cease reporting as a direct financing lease

 

[Em]

Item 1: Don't think existing free roads (331) can be converted to tollroads.

Buzz, that is interesting. Do you think if they completely destroy the existing causeway across the bay and replace it with new, that they could claim that that particular section of 331 is a not an "existing road," thereby escaping that rule?

 

[beachFool]

Dunno maybe since it is a new bridge, they could pull it off.

To me a toll bridge is a bad idea, it won't hurt me and it won't hurt the vast majority of my clients but the charge will impact people who can least afford to pay.

 

[mputnal]

It will certainly affect businesses on the North side of the 331 bridge. It is just not a good idea for a toll bridge. How many toll booths would there need to be to prevent cars from backing up? How wide would that area be and how far from the bridge. Low income workers would be negatively impacked. Delivery costs would increase. What would happen to the causeway? There are a lot of people who enjoy fishing along the causeway. We need to get this right. I know we need the bridge and I know we have relatively little political clout to get it paid for compared to central and south Florida. This will be an issue to pay close attention to and get involved in the discussions.

 

[scooterbug44]

I think toll bridges and booths just add additional costs and time to these projects.

 

[beachmouse]

The new toll collection method the state's pushing for is zero toll booths- everything will be either Sunpass or pay-by-plate (ie. toll bill gets sent to mailing address attached to the license plate) Idea is that it both speeds up traffic and reduces personnel costs. The new Sunpass hardware on the road side of things even allows 50-60mph speeds (see Suncoast Parkway north of Tampa) when going through the transponder trigger point.