Time and time again faithful opponents waited hours to speak their piece at the long meetings. Perhaps the Task Force members listened. The Suncoast Connector’s next and last meeting is Oct. 20, 2020, 9 – 5. No registration has yet been made available.
Visit the Suncoast Connector page here.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
It took quite a few days for the DOT to make the draft report available to the public, but now they have provided a link HERE. The first page says it all.
This report summarizes the activities and recommendations of the Suncoast Corridor Task Force.
Due to the early stage of planning for this corridor and the limited data and analysis on potential need and impacts available at this time, the Task Force was not able to fully address its charge of evaluating the need for and impacts of the Suncoast Corridor. The Task Force identified a series of potential high-level needs for future evaluation by FDOT and developed recommendations for how FDOT should assess the need for a corridor of the scale specified in statute. The Task Force did not reach a conclusion based on the information available at this time that there is a specific need for a completely new greenfield corridor through the study area to achieve the statutory purpose. The Task Force expressed a preference for improvement or expansion of existing major highway corridors or existing major linear utility corridors. The Task Force acknowledged the process for FDOT to consider a “no build” alternative in future project development activities until a final recommendation about each specific project is made. The Task Force also recommended guiding principles, instructions, and an action plan as a set of directions to FDOT and other partners for future planning, project development, and implementation activities related to the M-CORES Program.
