While it is mostly the people that make Central Florida a great place to live, work and raise a family — certain factors out of our immediate control, contribute to our overall quality of life. One of these factors is transportation and transportation planning. Below are some general observations related to transportation that I have made over the years and that I hope will get our readers thinking about the importance of long-range strategic planning as it relates to building and sustaining our great community.
Do you ever wonder how it is that tens of thousands of homes can be approved in a certain community without first building a roadway network to support the projected growth? We have a funny way of doing things around here. That’s because, traditionally, Central Florida has paid for infrastructure improvements via revenue from growth related activities. Essentially, when all the homes in East Orange County were approved, the revenues generated from our area were being used to pay for the projects already in the pipeline. When growth slows, this flow of money also slows.
Central Floridians don’t want to pay money out of our pockets for ‘luxuries’ such as transportation improvements. Think about it: Our community said ‘no’ to Mobility 20/20, a half penny sales tax proposed several years ago to pay for transportation improvements across Orange County. We often hear about our public bus system needing a dedicated funding source in order to provide its very necessary services to the people of Central Florida, yet no one organization nor person has risen to champion this cause. Even when there is free money on the table from the Federal Government for projects like SunRail, we have yet been able to get it done.
The State of Florida was recently recognized for having the third nicest roads in the entire Country. I’m guessing that those conducting the survey were driving along the toll roads for the most part. Newsflash: these roads are nice because we pay for them. Unlike our County, State and Federal roads, these roads are paid via a user fee. Part of our user fee goes towards keeping them nice. Part of the dollars collected from this recent increase will go towards completing the beltway around the Central Florida region. This may not seem important to all of us, but the completion of the beltway is essential if we are going to safely and efficiently move people to and from their destinations.
If you are reading my observations and are thinking to yourself, “yeah, but what does any of this have to do with me?” then think again. If we want to be a world class sustainable community then significant thought, planning and commitment needs to be put into our long-range transportation goals. It is absolutely necessary if we want to protect our jobs and overall quality of life. We may be experiencing slower than normal growth right now but we cannot count on this to last. In fact, now is the time to plan for tomorrow.
I recently heard Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty talk about the necessity of protecting what we have in Central Florida. Consider Orlando International Airport for example. OIA is a significant economic contributor to our community yet what is being done to improve ground transportation options near the Airport? If we can’t move passengers, goods and services or employees safely and efficiently then how can we expect airlines to invest in Central Florida? More flights means more tourist. More tourist means protecting our number one industry. When potential companies are looking at Central Florida as a possible home for new jobs or relocation efforts, they often ask about our investment in public transportation. CEOs of big companies want to know how their employees are going to get around, and how much employees will need to pay to get to work on decent roads. Moms want to know how long they will need to sit in traffic after work before picking up the kids and doing the nightly shopping. Dads want to know when they will be able to get home to spend time with the family.
Transportation planning is about more than moving people to and from their destination. Rather, it is about our quality of life in Central Florida – protecting and preserving it for future generations.
