TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation has extended the deadline for negotiations with Brightline on a lease on its proposed Orlando-Tampa passenger route, which had been set for July 31.
In a July 19 letter to Brightline President Patrick Goddard, Brad Thoburn, the state DOT assistant secretary, strategic development, cited “significant progress” in negotiating terms use of the Central Florida Rail Corridor as part of the planned route. “Because of the progress to date … FDOT no longer believes a formal agreement is needed prior to July 31, 2021,” Thoburn wrote.
The extension comes after the Central Florida Expressway Authority voted at a July 20 meeting to indefinitely delay a decision to allow Brightline to build along the agency’s state road 417, the passenger operator’s preferred route to reach Walt Disney World.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that decision came as Universal Orlando, merchants in the International Drive tourism area, and residents of Hunter’s Creek push to reroute Brightline from its preferred corridor to one following State Road 528, another tollway, to the International Drive area, then along Interstate 4 to Disney World. That route, which would also take Brightline away from Hunter’s Creek, could cost an additional $294 million (the International Drive group’s estimate) to $700 million or more, according to a consultant hired by the expressway authority.
Someone playing the numbers would say this is much ado about nothing. Brightline won’t be in business in a few years.
This is an epic saga that’s been playing out for half a century, with Disney on one side, and competition on the other. Disney wants to get everyone onto their property as soon as possible and keep them until they spend all their money; and competition wants to intercept as many as possible before they get onto Disney property and spend all their money.
So, pull up a chair and watch how this round plays out….
I’d tell Universal and those businesses on International Drive if they want to route Brightline another way, then they can come up with the additional cost(might want to even includes those people in Hunters Creek too). Then see how much support there is for changing the route.
The NIMBYs in Hunters Creek already can hear semi’s and other loud vehicles 24/7 and don’t complain. One passenger train an hour or even more would not be noticed other than the colors going by. Build a sound wall for them and they won’t even notice.