Pasco County Town Hall Meeting Explodes in Anger over toll Road Plan with Partner Involved with Bankrupt Project
PDF VersionThere they sat, patiently sitting on the wooden bleachers of Sunlake High School like students at a civic class assembly for over an hour until finally it happened, they erupted on their public servants in a way that will be heard all the way through our Tri County area to the State Capital in Tallahassee, “Not here, not now, this is Pasco Countyâ€.
The meeting that started at 7 pm with a slick PowerPoint presentation that went off the road at 8:01 with a picture of a 20 lane highway and a comment by Pasco planning Director Richard Gehring that 20 lanes would be needed to handle the anticipated growth on State Road 54. From that point on the town people took over the meeting shouting that the Director was trying to scare the people Los Angeles style traffic congestion as our population grows in the future. The presentation was basically over at that point as the crowd lost all patience back and the public servants turned over the microphone to the people and sat back to listen. First to get up was Susie Hoeller of Land O’Lakes who stated that she felt the tone of the previous hour was that this whole plan was a done deal and that they were just there to be informed as to what was going to happen. She was interested in other possible solutions to the inevitable growth coming our way and the traffic problems that will follow. She also questioned the viability of the Spanish company in charge of the project, Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) that is looking for a multibillion euro bail-out for nine bankrupt motorways which could directly hit the country's deficit {Reuters}. About 30 more people followed, not one of whom spoke in favor of the plan.
The elevated highway is supposed to link Interstate 75 to the Suncoast Parkway and US 301 to US 19, then uniting the Suncoast with US 41 and Interstate 75. Jason Amerson told the County officials that he felt that they were willing to gamble our way of life away in return for a promise of progress.
But the decision maker, the State of Florida, Department of Transportation is in charge of reviewing and approving the project. They call it the “Florida Express 54†and wants to be sure it has the support of the people of Pasco County before it hands over the keys to the project's backers a local engineer Gerald Stanley, a New York investment bank and OHL. A spokesperson for OHL, that had built nine toll roads for the Spanish Government that failed badly, said Friday that total debt associated with the nine bankrupt involved in the roads was $7.1 billion. It seems that traffic on the nine toll roads, most of which connect Madrid to outlying towns, has plunged from projections made by expert government traffic planners.
