Group: Florida needs more interstate miles

TALLAHASSEE — More than half of Florida’s interstate highway system is congested in urban areas and needs to expand as the state continues to see explosive growth, a national transportation group said Thursday.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the national interstate highway system, a report by The Road Information Program, or TRIP, a Washington-based transportation group, says $23 billion is needed in Florida just to maintain the network of roadways they say saves each Floridian more than $2,000 a year by reducing travel time and making goods less expensive.

“Florida’s interstates have provided tremendous safety, time and economic benefits over the last 50 years,” said William M. Wilkins, TRIP’s executive director, in a prepared statement. “But without an additional investment in maintaining and expanding the system, the state may see some of those benefits slip away.”

Local officials, however, say the price tag is even higher as the state scrambles to make up for a backlog of transportation needs in booming areas like Southwest Florida where the intestate is a critical lifeline for commerce, travel and public safety.

The group gave high praise for the condition of Florida’s interstate system, noting that the network is largely in good repair. Nearly 97 percent of roadways and 90 percent of bridges are in good condition, the survey noted.

But the study also found that growth is affecting the network’s capacity. The study found 51 percent of Florida’s interstate system congested during peak hours in urban areas, a figure significantly higher than most other states. While Florida’s system of interstate highways saw a 17 percent expansion between 1990 and 2004, the travel along its routes jumped 73 percent.

Photo by Tracy Boulian, Daily News

Traffic moves along on Interstate 75 near Golden Gate Parkway on Thursday afternoon where construction has been under way. A report released Thursday examining the nation’s interstate highway system praises Florida’s system, but says it needs to expand as the state continues to see explosive growth.

“With over 1,000 people moving to Florida every single day, and $23 billion more needed in the next 10 years just to maintain today’s conditions, it isn’t enough to ‘coast’ on the past interstate achievements of the Greatest Generation,” said Doug Callaway, president of Floridians for Better Transportation, a business and transportation association.

Locally, the need for additional capacity is even more pronounced, said state Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples. In response, Davis sponsored a measure to establish the Southwest Florida Expressway Authority, a group set up to seek ways to expand toll lanes on Interstate 75 in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties.

The new authority has had two monthly meetings and board members say the four extra lanes should be added to the state’s widening of the interstate to six lanes, even if it means delaying the state project. The projected cost is $1.8 billion. The state’s widening project is set to begin in 2007 and run through 2015.

Davis said the expansion of toll roads in Southwest Florida and throughout the state seems a logical remedy as federal money dries up and state coffers remain insufficient by themselves to properly expand the system.

“The federal government is telling us nationwide that they are not going to have the dollars to build those roads,” Davis said. “We don’t have the state funds either, so I think you are going to see a lot of tolling.”