Selmon-Crosstown Expressway Discussion

[97Roll]

Once the plate recognition technology is perfected (hopefully within the next couple of years), you will see the elimination of toll booths on just about every toll road in the state and probably the country as well.

[HARTride 2012]

I've been down the Suncoast Pkwy once, shortly after the segment south of SR 50 opened. I like how the SunPass lanes are physically separated from the mainline toll lanes. In Orlando, some newer or redone toll plazas actually have the reverse configuration to that of the Suncoast Pkwy. In other words, the cash lanes branch off to the side of the tollway and the SunPass lanes are on the mainline.

[HARTride 2012]

Senators Differ On Need For Transportation Lobbyist
By RICH SHOPES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

Previous Coverage: Legislators Blast Tollway Authority STORY POSTED AFTER THIS STORY

TAMPA - Two state senators who came together last year to criticize the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority have opposite views over the authority's recent effort to hire an outside lobbyist.

State Sen. Mike Fasano warned the bid could turn into a rerun of last year, when the agency got into hot water for paying lobbyists $1.5 million from July 2001 to June 2006. The agency doesn't need lobbyists, he said.

"If I was a taxpayer of Hillsborough County, I would be questioning that," said Fasano, R-New Port Richey and chairman of the powerful Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee.

But state Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, said the authority's proposal demonstrates restraint because the lobbyist would work on a temporary basis while a search is conducted for an in-house "government relations manager."

"I don't have a problem with that," he said. "If they bring on a lobbyist for special or strategic reasons, that could be acceptable."

The two senators were more closely aligned last year when they called for significant changes at the authority after a succession of problems sparked investigations by the governor's office and state auditor general.

A report in December by the auditor general says hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on lobbyists, though a state law prohibits using public money to hire outside lobbyists.

"To my knowledge they still don't have the statutory authority to do so," Marilyn Rosetti, an audit supervisor at the auditor general's office, said Tuesday.

Patrick Maguire, attorney for the authority's governing board, disputes the auditor general's interpretation and noted other authorities regularly use lobbyists, including the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.

"There's a gray area here," he said.

Interviews are scheduled for next month, and the authority's board could vote to hire a lobbyist at its next meeting, Nov. 19.

Joe Waggoner, the authority's executive director, said the agency needs a lobbyist because he can't keep traveling to the state capital while running the agency. He has suggested hiring an outside lobbyist for six to nine months until the agency can find an in-house government affairs manager.

Crist was cautious but agreed, saying, "It's good to have someone watching out for the agency's interests."

A year ago, he introduced a bill to reconstitute the authority's governing board to give more control to Hillsborough's elected officials after reports showed how much the authority had paid lobbyists and other contractors in recent years.

Most of the board's members are appointed by the governor, and Crist wanted those positions appointed by Hillsborough's elected officials, including those in Temple Terrace and Plant City.

Fasano, meanwhile, was backing a bill to dissolve the agency and fold it into the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, which wouldn't be created until June.

Both senators pulled back after the authority's interim executive director, Stephen Reich, introduced reforms at the agency and committed to following the recommendations of the auditor general.

Now the two are in disagreement.

Fasano disputes whether the agency needs a lobbyist, saying it could turn to local elected officials for help in Tallahassee, "and they won't charge you anything." Unlike the last dispute, though, he hasn't proposed dissolving the authority.

Crist said a lobbyist is a legitimate expense and could protect the authority by monitoring transportation funding.

The authority, which operates the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, is teaming up with the Department of Transportation and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise to build a $600 million connector road between Interstate 4 and the expressway.

"Things can change fast and at the last minute," Crist said. "Their job is to constantly be working with elected officials at the state, national and local levels."

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/oct...st/?news-metro
=========================
Legislators Blast Tollway Authority
By Lindsay Peterson of The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2007

TAMPA - State lawmakers pummeled the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority on Saturday, saying only a reorganization will spare the embattled agency from being abolished.

One after another, the legislators slammed the agency's lack of control over spending, particularly on lobbyists, lawyers and media advisers.

New state Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Brandon, called the payments "outrageous."

She noted the recent toll increase on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, which connects Brandon to downtown Tampa. These consultants "don't see the costs to people in their everyday lives," she said. The costs are substantial "to the people who are not driving around in fast race cars and wearing silk stockings and thousand-dollar suits."

Storms asked how much the authority was paying its interim general counsel, Rhea Law, who drives a blue Corvette. Law said she was receiving $225 an hour, describing that as "a low cost" for attorneys like her. She is president and chief executive officer of Fowler White Boggs Banker.

State Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, said Saturday he is determined to change the authority's governing board.

The governor appoints a majority of the board's seven members. Sen. Crist wants to create a new structure to give more power to Hillsborough's elected officials, including those in Temple Terrace and Plant City.

The bill he plans to file would have each elected body appoint at least one board member. The elected officials also would have the ability to quickly recall their appointees.

It's the only way to save the board from more drastic changes, he said.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has proposed dissolving the authority and folding its responsibilities into a seven-county agency.

Scaring Off Applicants, Bidders

The expressway authority officials and legislators from Hillsborough County came together Saturday to talk about the authority's future. Crist said he wanted to have the discussion before writing the final version of his bill.

The authority officials assured the lawmakers that they were enacting new cost controls, at the behest of the state auditor general. They entreated Crist and his colleagues to keep the board as it is.

The agency is trying to hire a permanent executive director, and proposed changes could scare away good candidates, interim Executive Director Stephen Reich said.

It's also preparing to award a crucial contract for a toll road in New Tampa. It would be Florida's first foray into hiring a private corporation to build and run a public road, thereby getting it open long before it could be done with limited public money.

"If you file a bill, you put us in play, you create an environment of uncertainty," said board Chairman James Hargrett. It could put the authority at a disadvantage while negotiating with bidders.

Also, Hargrett said, it could alarm the people who set the authority's bond ratings.

The arguments didn't satisfy the lawmakers.

'Enormous Amount Of Dysfunction'

Scrutiny of the authority began in August after a botched bid process for a legal services contract.

Questions revolved around a meeting between the authority's lobbyist, John Beck, and lawyers for one of the bid applicants, Gray Robinson. Beck met with the lawyers at the request of board member Robert Clark Jr. Also, then-Executive Director Ralph Mervine dined with a Gray Robinson lawyer before the contract was awarded.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush's office investigated. His general counsel found no wrongdoing but said there was the appearance of impropriety and overspending and called for a top-down state audit.

In October, Mervine resigned after a Tampa Tribune search of his business ties found that he owned a pornographic video company.

In November, the state auditor issued a preliminary report criticizing the agency's cost controls. It questioned how the public benefited from millions in spending on consultants. It also pointed to $1.5million spent on lobbyists between 2001 and 2006 and questioned whether it was legal for the authority to use public money for lobbying.

At first the authority rejected several of the auditor's findings. But last week, after the auditor reinforced his conclusions, the board voted to accept them all. It ended its contract with Beck and accepted plans to analyze its spending.

"We've turned a page," Hargrett told the lawmakers Saturday. But state Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Brandon, later said, "I'm not quite ready to turn the page with you."

He agreed with other lawmakers that Fasano's plan to dissolve the authority is a bad one. Millions in toll revenue could end up being spent outside the county. But he said the agency needed fundamental change to correct "an enormous amount of dysfunction."


Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834 or lpeterson@tampatrib.com.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/jan...way-authority/

[HARTride 2012]

This is actually a good basis for a poll. Should the THCEA remain intact? Or should it be dissolved into the Turnpike Enterprise or TBARTA? Is it even possible for me to create a poll, or can only the moderators do that. I'd like some thoughts here, FLFuture or Jason...please assist me here.

[HARTride 2012]

The poll regarding the THCEA is now up.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=539675

[HARTride 2012]

Expressway Authority Seeks Sign For Selmon
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Published: Oct 22, 2007

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The expressway authority's plans to partner with a restaurant chain are getting shoved to the back of the freezer.

Joe Waggoner, executive director of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, is set to ask board members today whether the agency can work with a contractor and not the chain to replace the mishmash of signs - from a grinning pirate to a Nike-like swoosh - that point motorists to the 14-mile Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

Earlier this year, the authority was mulling a deal with the owners of Lee Roy Selmon's All-American Grill to produce a single, easy-to-read logo that benefited both parties.

OSI Restaurants, the owners of the grill, was expected to foot the estimated $250,000 bill to replace all 240 signs. That was before two equity firms bought the company in June. Since then, the authority hasn't heard whether OSI still backs the deal.

Tolling Still Possible
Pasco commuters will have to wait at least a month to find out what their commute to Tampa could cost them.

Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan said he might ask the county's transportation task force when it convenes next month to consider a toll booth on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard to control congestion and offset $130 million in improvements to the road.

County Attorney Renee Lee recently told him installing the booth would be legal, although it could spark a fight with merchants and land owners who'd be forced to sell to make room for the booth and toll-takers' cars.

The idea raised legal questions and eyebrows when brought up in August, but Hagan said he's serious: "I think it's another tool in our toolbox, and at the minimum it's something we should consider," he said last week.

Economist To Urge Tampa's Greening
An economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C.,-based think tank, says Tampa could get an economic boost if it was more like America's greenest city, Portland, Ore.

Portlanders drive 20 percent fewer miles than average big city dwellers. Many forsake their cars to ride the train or bus.

Rather than stifle the local economy, that practice stimulates it because Portlanders have cash for things other than cars, economist Joe Cortright says.

Cortright will be in Tampa at noon on Tuesday to talk about mass transit's economic benefits. The event, at the Hyatt Regency Tampa, costs $30.

What Are Those Things?
Don Vickers of South Tampa said that during recent trips to Tallahassee he noticed cameras being installed on poles along the Suncoast Parkway to monitor traffic, but he was stumped by the antennae also going up.

"Do you have any idea what purpose they serve?" he asked.

Turns out the devices help Florida's Turnpike Enterprise determine how traffic is moving so it can post information to message boards.

The antennae detect signals from transponders, which then are sent to computers to measure travel time between antennae and the rate of traffic, said Joanne Hurley, a spokeswoman for turnpike enterprise.

Got a gripe about your commute? Contact reporter Rich Shopes at rshopes@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7633.

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBW6YP628F.html

[JBrisco]

Keep the freaking Pirate!!!! It's a symbol of Tampa's parade, and the Bucs of which Lee Roy Selmon belonged to.
I don't understand why they changed it in the first place. Maybe it should be a black pirate though...

[HARTride 2012]

THCEA wanted a modern look for the expressway logo, symbolizing the new reversible express lanes. So they ended up putting this out...



Here's the old Gaspar logo...

[HARTride 2012]

Frankly, I don't favor the new logo either. But I'm willing to tolerate it.

[randommichael]

I like the new logo. If you aren't from the area the pirate means nothing.

[HARTride 2012]

The pirate's significance is this, and probably only this. It represents Jose Gaspar's influence on Tampa and probably to a lesser degree, Gasparilla. Other than that, I don't think it goes any further.

I think THCEA could have come up with a better replacement than the bridge one. But again, they wanted something modern that represents the reversible express lanes...so the bridge is what they came out with.

[smiley]

just give it a number and use that . . .

[HARTride 2012]

The FDOT standard shields are used on the expressway also. But they only appear on some signs.

[smiley]

Yea - just use the numbers

[FlaNatv]

The pirate sign looks outdated like the old Buc's uniforms. It says "Tampa is about corny pirates." Perception of Modern , cutting edge, progeressive...no way!

Agreed, Just use the numbers.

[HARTride 2012]

Oh gosh. Don't remind me of the creamsicle colors of the old Bucs. I hated that.

[HARTride 2012]

Crosstown shows its age

The 30-year-old toll road needs repairs, updates and additions. Headaches to follow.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD, Times Staff Writer
Published November 4, 2007

TAMPA - Now that it's 30 years old, the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway is showing its age. That's about to cause rush-hour traffic delays, and maybe a shakeup in long-term plans for the road.

Starting Monday night and continuing for eight months, workers will be closing traffic lanes along a mile-and-a-half stretch of the toll road midway between downtown Tampa and Brandon. They have to replace outdated concrete slabs on six overpasses where the expressway crosses U.S. 41, Maydell Drive and a railroad line.

For the next few weeks, the eastbound inside lane will be blocked. Soon they'll shut down a westbound lane, too. The elevated reversible lanes won't be affected, but drivers on the four lower lanes will inevitably run into morning and evening slowdowns near the Crosstown's eastern toll plaza.

"We apologize and ask for their patience. We'll do this as quickly as we can," said Joe Waggoner, executive director of the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority. "This is necessary work. Our first order of business is to preserve the road we have."

To make traffic run smoother, the expressway will hand out flyers at toll plazas suggesting drivers hop on the increasingly popular elevated lanes. The absence of cash toll booths on those lanes means they'll need a SunPass or a toll-by-plate account.

"We're hoping we can move some traffic to the upper deck to minimize the impact," said expressway spokeswoman Sue Chrzan.

All of this is just a warmup for a much bigger headache scheduled for 2010: replacing the concrete surface of a mile-long elevated section of the expressway that snakes through downtown. Traffic lanes there will be closed for longer periods, though the road will stay open. Steven L. Reich, former director of the Expressway Authority, once described it as "18 months of nightmare."

That $72-million project will be such a pain, in fact, that officials are considering adding two more lanes to that part of the expressway years earlier than scheduled. That way, they wouldn't have to rip up the road and inconvenience drivers twice.

But "that would be a real financial challenge for us," Waggoner said.

Decaying concrete

All of this is unavoidable because Florida has been steadily replacing outdated concrete bridges around the state. The process began long before an Aug. 1 collapse in Minnesota focused attention on the deteriorating condition of America's bridges.

The problem with some of the Crosstown's bridges is how the concrete was poured.

The first leg of the road opened in 1976 from Gandy Boulevard to lower downtown. After that, in the early '80s, the elevated downtown viaduct and the overpasses east of downtown were built with a construction technique that's no longer used in Florida, according to Ben Muns, the expressway's chief engineer.

Workers back then would piece together a bottom layer of prefabricated concrete slabs, then add reinforcing steel and pour a top layer of concrete, Muns said. It has since been discovered that traffic vibrations can separate those layers, letting water seep in and causing deterioration.

Expressway officials say there's no safety concern here, and state inspection records back them up.

"Our bridges have been inspected," Chrzan said. "They're structurally sound. It's just our time on the list" of bridges to be replaced.

Still, the Crosstown's age is showing, especially the elevated downtown section. In March, an 18-by-18-inch chunk of concrete dropped onto an empty lot. And in June, part of the road needed to be closed as workers fixed a crack in the concrete.

'Night and day'

For the $6.3-million in construction work that's starting between downtown and Brandon, crews will shut down one eastbound and westbound lane at a time as they rip out the overpasses' concrete slabs and pour new ones.

"The lanes are going to be closed 24/7, so they're going to be able to work both night and day," Chrzan said.

Expressway officials think this is a good time to get more drivers to move up to the elevated reversible lanes. Those lanes take commuters west to downtown in the morning and east to Brandon in the evening.

Of course, that won't work for drivers who are going the opposite way, or who are headed somewhere besides Brandon or downtown.

"Other people get off at Ybor, or they go farther - they come from Brandon and go to MacDill," Chrzan said.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at brassfield@sptimes.com or 813 226-3435.

[Last modified November 3, 2007, 22:31:33]

[HARTride 2012]

Lovely, they're going to fix the deficient bridges. I can't wait for the viaduct project to start in 2010, that will be a HUGE MESS

[HARTride 2012]

EDIT

[HARTride 2012]

Opinions anyone?