BeachLine joins rent-a-road mix

[Scurrilous]

Crist eyes plan to fill budget gap -- tolls could soar

<snip>

"A stretch of the BeachLine Expressway in Central Florida, Alligator Alley in South Florida and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay could be leased to private investors under a plan being considered by Gov. Charlie Crist.

Officials concede that the proposal, meant to patch a hole in the state's deflated budget, could send toll rates soaring on the two roads and the bridge.

So far, Crist has publicly described the concept only vaguely as one way to balance Florida's budget without raising taxes. But his office has been briefed during the past two months by New York investment firm UBS about the revenue the state could reap leasing public toll roads to private investors.

The consensus: Tolls would have to go up.

An Orlando Sentinel review of public records shows the most likely first project would be Alligator Alley, between Naples and Fort Lauderdale, where the state estimates it could raise between $504 million and $1.3 billion by leasing it to private investors.

In exchange for a 50-year lease to run the toll plazas and maintain the roadways, a private vendor could raise tolls from $2 to as much as $10 within a decade, records show."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-tolls22_207sep22,0,465261.story

[2Design]

1. attack on the working person - this is not good - cut the flowers

on the table, cut the processes, cut the wasteful meetings, cut the administration, and lower home prices.

[nashville_brook]

2. when i left FL, i wasn't old enough to drive. after 20+ years in TN i move back, and

can not fucking believe that people perceive the toll situation here in Orlando as "normal," fair" or "necessary." i've been told by people who should know better that if it weren't for tolls, we wouldn't have roads to drive on. sorry, but Orlando does NOT qualify as a road-wealthy city in my experience. this town is impossible to navigate.

we've got a "Chinatown" syndrome happening here, and people need to wake up to the fact that every time they pass thru one of those moneysuck contraptions, that they are being shaken down by thieves.

i live on the east end of orlando and had a job in Lake Mary -- my tolls were $7 a DAY. $35 a WEEK. $140 a MONTH -- for the "privilege" to drive to work. that's not acceptable. that's more than my insurance. more than my gas.

[ripmolly]

3. educate me

What's wrong with the Bee-Line (how I will always remember it) being a toll road? SR-50 is free.