NEWS

Capital region shortchanged on state road money

Jeffrey Schweers
Tallahassee Democrat

It’s been four years since Leon County got a decent slice of the state road construction pie —  $52 million in 2012 to widen Capital Circle West from West Tennessee Street to Orange Avenue.

Construction is underway along Blountstown Highway near the intersection with Capital Circle SW Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016.

It’ll be another five before another good chunk of change comes down the pike — $45.8 million to widen Capital Circle from Orange Avenue to Springhill Road.

“I see challenges we have stemming from a few different issues,” said Kristin Dozier, a Leon County Commissioner since 2010 and the immediate past chair of the CRTPA.

In a nutshell, those issues are poor communication between local agencies and with the state’s transportation planners, a lack of clarity in setting local priorities, a tendency to think small — opting for sidewalks and bike paths instead of big road projects, and relying too heavily on Blueprint sales tax revenue for meeting the region’s needs.

Tallahassee and Leon County leaders are hoping to turn that around with a new executive director of the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency. Greg Slay, former director of the Ocala/Marion County Transportation Planning Organization for nearly two decades, came on board in July and has already begun to make changes, Dozier said.

Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier.

The CRTPA is the regional transportation planner for Leon, Wakulla, Gadsden, and Jefferson counties. But those counties, cities and other local agencies have operated independently of each other, giving the impression there is little unity, Dozier said.

“In his first couple of months, he has already addressed that coordination piece, which has always been a big part of the communications challenge,” Dozier said.

The agency needs to expand its vision and stop thinking small, she added. And it needs to be clearer in its ask.

Construction is underway along Blountstown Highway near the intersection with Capital Circle SW Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016.

For years, the CRTPA’s focus has been on sidewalks and stormwater. And for years, those projects have been lumped together with road projects.

“The DOT looks at our list and says, ‘All their top priorities are small projects except for Capital Circle and Woodville Highway’,” Dozier said.

The low number of road projects led local builders and contractors last year to complain to the local planning agencies.

Over the last year or so, CRTPA cleaned up the road project list by taking out all the bike and pedestrian projects and putting them in their own list.

Each year, the agency submits its five-year priority list to the District 3 FDOT office — which covers a 16-county region from Escambia to Jefferson County. That pits the Capital Region against the likes of Pensacola, Okaloosa-Fort Walton and Bay County for state transportation money.

Construction is underway along Blountstown Highway near the intersection with Capital Circle SW Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016.

Ian Satter, spokesman for District 3, said the state agency can only look at the projects presented by each regional planning agency.

"The local transportation planning organizations look at what they foresee as the priorities for their area," Satter said.

Different factors come into play when FDOT decides which priorities get funded.

"If a bridge needs to be replaced, that has a high priority for us," Satter said. "Anything that is a safety concern, that is going to take a priority"

For example, the Pensacola Bay Bridge is a $398 million project.

FDOT also places a high importance on its strategic intermodal system — roadways that connect to major transportation hubs.

As examples, he cited a roadway project to the Port of Pensacola and the widening of Capital Circle to Tallahassee International Airport.

Satter also said that FDOT has liaisons assigned to all its regional transportation planning organizations.

Construction is underway along Blountstown Highway near the intersection with Capital Circle SW Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016.

The current CRTPA road list,which goes through 2022, has 18 projects, only six of which have been funded.

Those six are all road-widening projects: Woodville Highway tops the list, which identifies $9.4 million in right-of-way funding from 2018 through 2021. Capital Circle Southwest is ranked second and third, with $6.1 million in right-of-way funding tagged for next year and $45.8 million in construction money in 2021. Crawfordville Highway holds the fourth and fifth spots, with $6.6 million in preliminary engineering money available next year but no construction money further down the road. Orange Avenue is ranked sixth with $788,000 tagged for 2019.

Tallahassee and city planners have sought a feasibility study for the Five Points intersection improvements at Thomasville Road/Meridian Road and Seventh Avenue, a huge priority to help relieve traffic congestion in Midtown. It's ranked 10th on the FDOT priority list and has no money identified for it through 2021.

Another important project for local planners, a planning development and engineering study for the Welaunee Boulevard extension, is ranked 12th and 13th and has no money set aside for it, either.

Construction is underway along Blountstown Highway near the intersection with Capital Circle SW Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016.

With his two decades of experience, Slay brings valuable relationships with the people in DOT at the regional and state level, said Tallahassee City commissioner Nancy Miller, who also sits on the CRTPA. She said she expects Leon County’s relationship with FDOT to improve with Slay in charge.

“He’s well known to the regional FDOT directors around the state,” Miller said. “They are all like one big family.”

Slay is well regarded by FDOT folks, she said.

“They’ve  shared that with folks here. He has made the transition smooth and they look forward to working with him,” Miller said. “That is the feedback we’re getting from DOT.”

Slay’s approach to working with the local legislative delegation, other lawmakers and DOT is different than what CRTPA has seen in the past, Dozier said.

She hopes that Slay will also be able to draw down more state and federal money.

“Perhaps we have looked to Blueprint satisfying our needs a little too much,” Dozier said.

Voters approved a one-cent sales tax in 2000 to meet a host of public works projects, including Cascades Park, the Gaines Street corridor, and Franklin Boulevard. Voters re-authorized the tax, extending it another 20 years to raise $756 million — about $36 million a year.

“Blueprint is exceptional. We invest in ourselves,” Dozier said. “But there are more needs than we can cover in a 20-year tax. There is money we could draw down if we knew how to ask.”

Contact Jeffrey Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com.