Pat McCue formerly of Tampa toll on Don Young and the Tampa I-4 Connector truck lanes

by Patrick J McCue

In fairness to Congressman Young, I would like to present a somewhat different view of the I-4 truck lanes story from your report.

First, I am pleased to tell you that the I-4 Connector, complete with exclusive elevated truck lanes to the Port of Tampa, is alive and well. Design of the elevated lanes is 60% complete and progressing toward construction within the next 2 years. True, the exclusive truck lanes will not be tolled, but the separate elevated lanes for other vehicles that connect to the Selmon Expressway will be tolled as originally planned.

Beginning in the 1980's, this project was always structured as a partnership between the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority and the Florida Department of Transportation, with the two public agencies sharing the cost of the project. However, like the originally planned widening of the Selmon Expressway, the I-4 Connector was conceived as a very traditional project.

As you correctly stated, the concept for the elevated lanes and exclusive truck lanes was developed after the Expressway Authority adopted its plan for elevated lanes in the median of the Selmon Expressway. This modification to the I-4 Connector concept was just a reflection of our new way of thinking about how to create affordable but more effective projects.

The idea for the exclusive truck lanes grew from numerous sources, including Reason Foundation reports, a study on truck lanes performed by the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and the problems you described in Ybor City, where trucks traveling between I-4 and the Port of Tampa are a constant danger and disruption in this National Historic District. The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority was dedicated to developing innovative approaches to transportation and the Authority's staff served as kind of a "think tank" to create new solutions.

That's where the new plan for the I-4 Connector was hatched.

When we presented the idea to our partners at FDOT, as you would expect, it triggered a lot of debate and discussion - which is a good thing when you're thinking about doing something that hasn't been done before. One of the concerns that was raised was whether the Feds would allow us to connect exclusive toll lanes to I-4 and require trucks traveling to and from the Port to use them. (We really couldn't require them to use the lanes but the City of Tampa was going to ban trucks from using the route through Ybor City, so the trucks would be left with no good alternative un-tolled route.) FDOT and the Authority also worried about how the trucking industry would react to the idea - a concern that turned out to be well-founded.

We had heard and read that Chairman Don Young was open to new ideas in the bill he was developing, so we decided to see if we could get his opinion on our proposal. We invited him to Tampa, showed him what we were trying to do, and, as you wrote, he was very enthusiastic. This is the point in the story where I think you were a little unfair to Don Young. His enthusiasm for the exclusive truck lanes was enough to convince the Authority Board and FDOT to adopt the innovative concept.

But all of us, including Don Young, expected to get a strong reaction from the truckers and we were right. They don't like toll lanes if they are required to use them. We thought we might be able to get our small demonstration project in SAFETY-LU without too much opposition but we were wrong. I never blamed Don Young for that. He had much bigger issues
than our little project to deal with in Washington and I never expected him to jeopardize the whole bill for us.

Personally, I still think of Don Young as a hero. His support and enthusiasm for our project made it happen. FDOT is financing the exclusive elevated truck lanes as non-toll lanes, Ybor City will soon be
truck-free, and Tampa will have another great transportation project.

Patrick J. McCue: is senior VP, Project Development, FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc, Tallahassee Florida, see www,figgbridge.com. McCue was chief executive of the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority during the period in which the much acclaimed Reversible Express Lanes on the Crosstown Expressway were conceived, designed and built, and he was involved in the planning of the I-4 Connector.

More on the project at http://www.i4.org/urs/content/Design/I4-CrosstownConnector/index.asp

TOLLROADSnews 2007-08-12