Lawmaker pulls toll road authority bill

Collier County officials say they are disappointed, and they plan to explore the creation of their own tolling authority that could work with Lee and possibly Charlotte counties to create new toll lanes along Interstate 75.

Davis had called for an interstate toll lane project as a first priority of the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority that he was proposing.

Davis, R-Naples, said earlier this week that he will not file the bill to create that authority because he could not get Lee County commissioners to agree to it, and he said he promised not to file the bill without the support of all of the county commissions.

"I said what I said, and I meant what I said," Davis said. Davis said he hoped that Collier and Lee counties would get together to add the toll lanes to the interstate anyway. "It's my understanding they can get together (to accomplish the project)," he said.

Davis said the two counties could form their own toll authorities and enter into an interlocal agreement to accomplish the project.

"And then they would approach FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) and the federal highway folks about the idea of putting some open-road tolling lanes on 75," Davis said.

Collier County commissioners say they are interested in working out a way to accomplish the project with Lee County commissioners, who recently indicated that they will look to launch a county-created expressway authority.

Collier Commissioner Fred Coyle said he did not think Davis' efforts were wasted, because they brought to the forefront the possibility of a cooperative effort between the counties accomplishing the project.

"It certainly did indicate that there are ways in which we can do this by cooperating," he said. "I think it can be done with direct cooperation and coordination between the counties."

However, Coyle said the "devil is in the details" about how the cooperative effort would work. He said one important issue to be worked out is who would be appointed to the toll authority boards that would make critical decisions about the project.

"The mechanics, I'm not sure about," Coyle said. "What I am reasonably sure about after talking with Davis is that, yes, it is possible. The problem comes with how do you divide up the funds? How are the funds are going to be collected? Those are the details that have to be worked out. We can find a way to do it."

Commissioner Jim Coletta said he could envision a tolling authority formed in which the Collier and Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization members were the controlling boards for the project, with an interlocal agreement between the two providing the details of how the cooperative effort would work. The MPOs consist of county, city and state transportation officials.

"We've got to look at the positive part of this whole thing," Coletta said. "If Davis never brought this forward and showed us that wonderful animation of what it (the tolling) would look like, I don't think there would be that much interest in advancing the 10-laning of 75. We owe Rep. Davis is a real debt of gratitude in moving this forward."

At a joint Collier-Lee MPO meeting on Oct. 17 at Florida Gulf Coast University, Davis showed a "virtual reality" presentation to MPO officials of how proposed toll-road lanes that are planned to be added to Interstate 4 in the Orlando area would work. There would be no manned toll booths. Drivers who use the toll lanes would use transponders to get through the booths. These allow cars to pass that have electronic devices on their dashes. In that project, tolls are proposed to fluctuate based on the time of day. During rush hour, when the demand would be high for the toll lanes, the toll would go up. When traffic is lighter on the regular lanes, the toll would be reduced to encourage drivers to use those lanes.

The Florida Department of Transportation is currently in the process of studying a widening of the interstate in Collier and Lee counties from four to six lanes.

The plans call for the highway being expanded to 10 lanes in the year 2030, but toll lanes could speed this up, said Debbie Tower, a spokeswoman for the agency, said recently.

A proposed widening of the interstate from four to six lanes is scheduled to start in Lee County in 2008 and in Collier in 2010. She said if four toll lanes were going to be added, it would make sense to do the study work for it in conjunction with that to widen the highway to six lanes. She said this more extensive study process might delay the overall initial widening by a year or two, but maybe not. She said the best-case scenario would be no delay in the beginning of the widening and the ten-lane project could begin at the same time as the six-lane one was supposed to begin. And that would elate Collier County officials.

"The need for it (10 lanes) is now," Coletta said.

Commissioner Frank Halas said he would like to see this effort to add toll lanes include Charlotte County as well.

"We have to look at the big picture. We know that in the next few years we are going to have a tremendous amount of growth, not only in Collier, but Lee, and it will spill over to Charlotte," he said.

He said the 10 lanes need to be completed as soon as possible.

"It needs to be done, like yesterday. We're going to increase the width of 75 from four lanes to six lanes. By the time the project gets going, it (the six lanes) is going to be obsolete. We should be looking at going with 10 lanes immediately. To get money into coffers, we need to come up with vehicle where can bond revenue needed to build this. I think we need to look at a tri-county effort here."

Davis came very close to garnering the support of Lee County commissioners for his new tolling authority.

After Davis pulled the bill last year, he said he will not offer it again unless commissioners approve it. Davis had changed his bill, giving counties a majority of the members on the authority board, allowing each county veto authority over projects within its borders, eliminating the controversial Collier Boulevard-951 Extension and establishing a 12-year time limit.

Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah said at the MPO meeting that Davis seemed to have answered the concerns of the Lee County Commission and he expected the commission would support Davis' bill. But then city leaders at the meeting spoke out against the toll authority concept.

Bonita Springs Mayor Paul Pass said the authority, which would have had the power to take land through eminent domain, was not necessary, because it would perform the same functions as existing governmental boards. The authority in its inception was proposed to have a director and a few employees. It would have had the power to take out bonds for transportation projects such as roads and bridges, which would be paid back by tolls. Pass pointed out that the numerous officials on both MPOs, as well as the staff that serves them, should be able to accomplish road projects that an authority might address.

"We better look in the mirror, because we have plenty of staff," he said. "Do we need to, in fact, set up another bureaucracy?" he asked.