Or $10 to drive up to Morrison Springs and back. I'd rather sit infront of my PC and lament the loss of the political forum.
West Bay Parkway - [Update: Planning Phase Underway]
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Or $10 to drive up to Morrison Springs and back. I'd rather sit infront of my PC and lament the loss of the political forum.
My arithmatic certainly was quite mistaken about the costs of the bridge (ya'll be glad I'm not your accountant), but I'm also not following your logic. The problem, in case of hurricanes, is getting lots of people over the bay using a two lane road. Once they get to 20, they will disperse a bit, but history has shown, it just don't work now. I have to admit, I can't quite envision a half causeway/half open span set up, nor can I picture the planners that be actually removing the existing causeway to build some quarter billion dollar project. Did somebody say $5 per trip? That might be wishful thinking.
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Lake view, you are correct in thinking that they won't keep one causeway while the new pretty one is the span. They will build the span, destroy the causeway, then build the second span, just like they did in PC/PCB.
Tolls will stink, especially for all those employees coming into SoWal from NoBay. Add $4/gal for gas and it could pose big problems for employers in SoWal.
Tolls will stink, especially for all those employees coming into SoWal from NoBay. Add $4/gal for gas and it could pose big problems for employers in SoWal.
What I'd love to see (being the utopian kind of guy that I am) is a completely reworked causeway/island. Much higher, much better : the crown jewel of all wayside parks, as it were. Complete with boat ramps, and (dare I say it) palm trees. Nothing would say welcome to SoWal like a mini island paradise.
I am more concerned with the establishment of further evacuation routes than anything else. The Clyde Bailey bridge closes to outgoing traffic at wind of 35mph, I understand. It is really the only evacuation route available to South Walton residents that goes directly North. To me, that is one of the main reasons for development of the West Bay Parkway.
Gee Andy I thought you were opposed to government spending.
Tolls will be insuffient for the West Bay Parkway so that means someone's tax dollars.
To quote Lennon and McCartney, do "you think the money was heaven sent?"
The buzzword is public-private partnership and we had best watch out.
See below in bold from an earlier column I wrote for the Sun.
The Long and Winding Road
In two generations, Florida skyrocketed from a predominately agricultural state to the number four slot on the US population Billboard Top Fifty. When I was born, more people lived in Alabama than hung their hats in Florida. According to the 1950 census, we were a pedestrian 20th in population. Personally, I credit air-conditioning.
Florida’s rapid growth put enormous pressure on infrastructure, particularly roads. Florida ranks below all southeastern states in the number of “lane-miles” of road per 1000 residents. To some planning for growth carries a negative connotation but failing to plan carries its own set of problems. Simply put Florida needs more roads.
On the docket for Walton County is the proposed West Bay Roadway linking the airport with South Walton. Under consideration are seven routes along with a no build option. The seven routes funnel into two places on US 98, one slightly east of Watersound Parkway, the other one more westerly.
The roadway could relieve traffic congestion on Back Beach Road and would provide an alternate evacuation route. Improved access to the airport could spur real estate development and economic growth. We have some significant obstacles-no money and a noisy contingent opposed to all government projects except their Social Security checks and Medicare. In addition, South Florida drivers face their own overcrowding issues and they outnumber us. The road will also cut through environmentally sensitive areas and impact high quality wetlands.
A few buzzwords tossed around include “public-private partnership” and “toll-roads”. When added together these two often yield municipal bonds aka debt. For the record, one of the largest municipal bond defaults in the last two years was a Greenville, South Carolina toll-road. Hailed at one time as an “innovative…public-private partnership” the “Southern Connector”, the moniker hung on it by boosters, has gone bust. Unrealistic traffic projections and overly optimistic economic expectations doomed the Connector. Closer to home, look no farther than the Garcon Point toll bridge which, baring something unforeseen, will default on their July 1, 2011 payment.
Municipal debt falls into two general categories-general obligation and revenue. With general obligation bonds, the issuer is obligated to use every bit of taxation power at their disposal to satisfy bondholders. While revenue bonds, depend solely on a defined revenue stream. The Southern Connector and the Garcon Point Bridge, like most toll-ways, used revenue bonds for financing.
Compared with their corporate cousins, municipal bonds default at much lower rates. In the last forty years, housing and hospital projects have accounted for most municipal bond defaults. With the growing reluctance of citizenry to finance infrastructure projects, we could see highway projects added to the list. As Deep Throat warned, follow the money. In 2009, the Southern Connector generated $3.9 million but $2.8 million (almost 72%) went to consultants, marketing, salaries, and legal fees. Someone came out smelling like a rose.
Road construction, while vital, is complex, challenging and expensive.
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Tolls will be insuffient for the West Bay Parkway so that means someone's tax dollars.
To quote Lennon and McCartney, do "you think the money was heaven sent?"
The buzzword is public-private partnership and we had best watch out.
See below in bold from an earlier column I wrote for the Sun.
The Long and Winding Road
In two generations, Florida skyrocketed from a predominately agricultural state to the number four slot on the US population Billboard Top Fifty. When I was born, more people lived in Alabama than hung their hats in Florida. According to the 1950 census, we were a pedestrian 20th in population. Personally, I credit air-conditioning.
Florida’s rapid growth put enormous pressure on infrastructure, particularly roads. Florida ranks below all southeastern states in the number of “lane-miles” of road per 1000 residents. To some planning for growth carries a negative connotation but failing to plan carries its own set of problems. Simply put Florida needs more roads.
On the docket for Walton County is the proposed West Bay Roadway linking the airport with South Walton. Under consideration are seven routes along with a no build option. The seven routes funnel into two places on US 98, one slightly east of Watersound Parkway, the other one more westerly.
The roadway could relieve traffic congestion on Back Beach Road and would provide an alternate evacuation route. Improved access to the airport could spur real estate development and economic growth. We have some significant obstacles-no money and a noisy contingent opposed to all government projects except their Social Security checks and Medicare. In addition, South Florida drivers face their own overcrowding issues and they outnumber us. The road will also cut through environmentally sensitive areas and impact high quality wetlands.
A few buzzwords tossed around include “public-private partnership” and “toll-roads”. When added together these two often yield municipal bonds aka debt. For the record, one of the largest municipal bond defaults in the last two years was a Greenville, South Carolina toll-road. Hailed at one time as an “innovative…public-private partnership” the “Southern Connector”, the moniker hung on it by boosters, has gone bust. Unrealistic traffic projections and overly optimistic economic expectations doomed the Connector. Closer to home, look no farther than the Garcon Point toll bridge which, baring something unforeseen, will default on their July 1, 2011 payment.
Municipal debt falls into two general categories-general obligation and revenue. With general obligation bonds, the issuer is obligated to use every bit of taxation power at their disposal to satisfy bondholders. While revenue bonds, depend solely on a defined revenue stream. The Southern Connector and the Garcon Point Bridge, like most toll-ways, used revenue bonds for financing.
Compared with their corporate cousins, municipal bonds default at much lower rates. In the last forty years, housing and hospital projects have accounted for most municipal bond defaults. With the growing reluctance of citizenry to finance infrastructure projects, we could see highway projects added to the list. As Deep Throat warned, follow the money. In 2009, the Southern Connector generated $3.9 million but $2.8 million (almost 72%) went to consultants, marketing, salaries, and legal fees. Someone came out smelling like a rose.
Road construction, while vital, is complex, challenging and expensive.
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No one mention Bo's Bridge right now. It's like the worst possible thing you can be compared to politically at this point. Though I do have a certain sick fascination in seeing if the bondholders end up claiming the asset (ie. the underperforming toll bridge) as the bond default gets sorted out and how much state taxpayers end up paying for the boondoggle, even though we're also creditors in the mess.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/article1179840.ece
The Garcon Point Bridge default is also going to make it harder to borrow for other Panhandle projects and they're probably going to have to pay higher interest rates for projects that do get funded. In addition, they're going to have to make the numbers work using far more conservative traffic projections- real numbers of vehicles on 331, not Freeport growth projections if a toll route is in the works for that bridge, and the West Bay connector route is also going to have any projections for new traffic viewed quite skeptically.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/article1179840.ece
The Garcon Point Bridge default is also going to make it harder to borrow for other Panhandle projects and they're probably going to have to pay higher interest rates for projects that do get funded. In addition, they're going to have to make the numbers work using far more conservative traffic projections- real numbers of vehicles on 331, not Freeport growth projections if a toll route is in the works for that bridge, and the West Bay connector route is also going to have any projections for new traffic viewed quite skeptically.
The 331 bridge needs to be 4 lanes (and divided) and it needs to not be funded on the backs of the working people who are already shelling out $$ for fuel to commute to work.
Can we reduce the bed tax by .05% and add a .05% out of state bridge charge?
Can we reduce the bed tax by .05% and add a .05% out of state bridge charge?
hmmm? .05% bridge fee (based on the rental rate)? That doesn't sound so fair. Someone renting a Gulf Front $10,000 per week home has to pay $50 bridge fee, where someone staying at Grayton Beach St Park for $210 per week pays only $1.05 bridge fee. The guy hauling the big RV behind the suburban has much more wear and tear on the bridge, yet they get 98% discount compared to the other guy.
Show me the money...and the figures
The Mid-Bay Bridge has consistenly had lower numbers than projected...until they jacked up tolls
http://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...h-Rates-Mid-Bay-Bridge-Authority-FL-Springing
Toll revenues have declined along with traffic declines through fiscal 2009 (down 3.9%, 7.2% and 2.8% year-over-year for fiscal years 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively). While the June 2010 toll increase did not yield as much as past increases, reflecting the aforementioned oil spill and the economic downturn, it did yield 16% growth in revenues during June-Sept 2010 time period versus same period in fiscal 2009. Fiscal 2010 revenue was up 5.7%, reflecting only one quarter's worth of the increase.
The authority's proactive position to implement a toll increase in June 2010 to help fund necessary improvements on approaches and connections to the bridge is viewed positively by Fitch. Although traffic on the bridge decreased by an average of 3% in the first two months of fiscal 2011 primarily as a result of the elasticity impact of the toll increase, toll revenues were up 24% during the same time frame.