FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — City officials in Fort Lauderdale are now saying a tunnel under the New River is the only option it will accept to upgrade the rail route through the city to accommodate a commuter rail operation, putting the city at odds with Broward County, which supports a less expensive bridge option.
In a paywalled article, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports city commissioners voted 3-2 at a Dec. 17 meeting to rescind an earlier motion that accepted the bridge option if a tunnel is too expensive. The city’s mayor, Dean Trantalis, has led opposition to a proposed 2.5-mile long bridge, saying it would divide the community and harm development. He was on the losing side of a 3-2 vote accepting the bridge option late last year [see “Fort Lauderdale commissioners narrowly vote to accept bridge …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 20, 2023].
But since then, one of the commissioners who voted for the bridge, Warren Sturman, lost his seat to Ben Sorensen, who said during his campaign that he would seek to overturn the earlier decision.
The estimated cost for the bridge is $500 million. Previously, it had been suggested a 3.5-mile tunnel would cost $3 billion; a Fort Lauderdale consultant now says the tunnel could be built for $880 million, while the county says the cost would be $1.5 billion. The hope of local officials is that the federal government will pay 50% of the cost, with the city and county splitting the remaining 50%.
Currently, a drawbridge on the Florida East Coast main line crosses the river, but the addition of Brightline trains on the route is an issue for marine traffic. The proposed bridge would have sufficient vertical clearance to eliminate the need for openings [see “Fort Lauderdale, county officials at odds …,” Oct. 30, 2023].
The new vote is raising concerns that the conflict between the city and county might keep the project from advancing, or at the least lead to delays that will increase the project cost.
County Commissioner Steve Geller told the Sun-Sentinel that he doubted the two sides could reach agreement: “The city seems pretty dug in and the county seems pretty dug in. I think we have a stalemate.” Broward Mayor Beam Furr told the paper, “All this delaying is making things more expensive. My hope is that we can come to a consensus on a bridge because that’s what I think we can afford.”
The bridge/tunnel question is connected to the proposed Broward Commuter Rail South, which would run from Fort Lauderdale to Aventura, Fla., where it would connect with Miami-Dade County’s planned Aventura-Miami commuter operation. The long-term version is for a system continuing another 60 miles north of Fort Lauderdale to Jupiter, Fla., the northernmost town in Palm Beach County.
Trantalis said he believes rail service is important, “but I would never compromise the quality of life in our community just to satisfy the needs of other communities.”
If they do build the tunnel, I hope they will preserve the existing railway and bridge as a backup when the tunnel floods. Will the entrances be below the hurricane tidal surge level?
If you look at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, you will notice that when it goes into the tunnel, there is a ridge or lip around the entrance to protect it from storm surge.
I would imagine if a tunnel is used in this situation, they would install the same and if the storm is so bad, place flood doors at each end, because if the weather is that bad, no one is going to be riding or shipping by rail that day.
Residents of Ft Lauderdale won’t need to commute, then. Can live and work and shop all in that community.
No brainer here. Fort Lauderdale pays the difference between the cost of the bridge vs the tunnel. That would be 2.5 billion dollars. maybe that would knock some common sense in them.
“The hope of local officials is that the federal government will pay 50% of the cost, with the city and county splitting the remaining 50%.”
There’s Florida living up to its reputation as a “taker State”, after the GOP Florida Representatives Voted against infrastructure bills they always have their hands out. Yes I live here and this is pretty much a weekly occurrence where some GOP Representative is touting how he brought money for a road or wi-fi without saying it’s paid with Federal Dollars that they Voted against.
Unless Fort Lauderdale is paying the full price for a tunnel then there is a wide beach they can go pound sand at.
Building tunnels in south Florida is a big mistake. Tunneling through sediment with a high water table is crazy. After 10 years maintenance will become a nightmare.
New Orleans has two tunnels under the inter coastal waterway and the US 90 tunnel in Mobile under the river were great when they first opened up. Now after 60+ years they leak. The last time I drove through one of them, I had my windshield wipers going full tilt. Seamed like I was driving through a rain storm. The Drainage pumps never shut down. If they did the tunnels would fill up and flood. Also, with the oceans rising (as we have been told), the tunnel entrances will be at sea level in 15 years. Thus, after only a few years, the entrances will be at sea level.
Gov. Ronny thinks you just keep pouring concrete walls along the ocean and everything will be alright, he stripped all mention of climate change from official state business.
I had a long talk with a water projects engineer (R.I.P.) from Tampa. I asked him if the oceans were rising. He said “millimeters per year”.
Without any exception, every single article I read about “rising temperatures” or rising ocean levels” lacks data.
Charles, a very quick Google search finds multiple sources stating the observed ocean level rise is about 3.4-3.6 millimeters per year, or about 1 inch every 7 years.
Louisiana is different when it comes to certain priorities. The fact that the highest paid public employee in the state is the college football coach and the largest percentage of their municipal debt is tied to a football dome should tell you all you need to know.
Also they build tunnels under sediment all the time now and they don’t leak due to new technologies involved in the design.
It doesn’t take a river above to have tunnels be breached with water. The Tetsuo Harano Tunnel on Oahu supporting Interstate H-2 is hundreds of feet above sea level but during its construction massive amounts of water flowing were found in the volcanic rock as they drilled.
CLIFFORD — How do you measure the level of the ocean to a tenth of a millimeter? Obviously this is the average of several measurements by various scientists, none of whom can come closer then 50 mm or so.
Even as an average there is no significance to a tenth of a millimeter.