Sometimes doing a good deed does not turn out all that well in the end. As the 2020 Florida Legislative Session begins, we need to discuss earmarks, those legislator-added line items to the state budget for transportation or other capital projects in a district or county. If your local state lawmaker asks you what projects… Read more »
You read about them in the paper just about every day: an elderly man killed crossing 34th Street S in St. Petersburg, hit by a driver at 1:42 AM. Or maybe it’s a young woman, attempting to cross US 19 near Sunset Point Road; stepping in front of a truck driver is all the information we… Read more »
While building transportation projects is a contentious process in Tampa Bay, we are not alone in struggling to engage the community and get projects done. I wrote in my previous post about the Florida Department of Transportation’s peer exchange trip to St. Louis for about 20 local representatives, a trip designed to give us a… Read more »
One of the first lessons I learned as a consultant many years ago is that every community has its own public decision-making process. What flies by with no commentary in one city can make for contentious late-evening public input and visceral debate in another. Whether it’s advancing a transportation project or making changes to a… Read more »
It was probably not how Andy Holcombe wanted to start his first day of an internship with the Philadelphia Phillies. Nor was it my intent to spend part of the morning commute flying over my handlebars and a vehicle’s hood to slam hard into the pavement, but there we were. Although this was just a… Read more »
Smart Growth America’s Dangerous by Design report released today ranks the Tampa Bay area as the seventh most dangerous metro area in the country for people walking. Despite that dubious distinction, we were encouraged to see our area’s standing in the rankings improve five spots from the past three reports. While the trend is positive,… Read more »
In the wake of failed transportation funding proposals in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, there’s a growing chorus of voices on both sides of Tampa Bay about how we finally figure out a way to pull together as a region to solve our transportation problems. State and local government officials have long advocated for a regional… Read more »
The recent vote to support funding for the Tampa Bay Express (TBX) in the Hillsborough County MPO’s Transportation Improvement Program illustrates the difficult choices we face to improve transportation in the Tampa Bay region. The Florida Department of Transportation’s plan to construct variable priced toll lanes on Interstate 275, I-4 and I-75 has sparked much public debate… Read more »
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