Tonight at 8 pm on North Florida Writer Live we will host Hawthorne, Fl Mayor Matt Surrency for a candid discussion of the current Florida Department of Transportation Task Force studying the I-75 traffic situation and some of the options being considered for future development. Mayor Surrency is a member of the study group and your host, a defender of rural Florida as it dwindles, has actively been involved in reviewing and following the ongoing process and where it might lead.
Indeed rural North Florida is under great stress as Governor Scott and his team seems determined to turn the entire state into one large urban area. And while I realize that Florida will grow, the question is where and how fast, for the current roads are crumbling, the water supply is showing stress and added pollution and no one is addressing these factors adequately. Repair and modification of existing roadways seems highly preferable to grandiose new project schemes of a pie in the sky variety.
Of particular concern is the study's inclusion of the possibility of extended a superhighway toll road through a very wet area, eastern Alachua County. The supposed reason for considering this is the need to put a direct link in place for traffic between two port cities, Jacksonville and Tampa, with the coming of the new Panama Canal. The only problem with the argument is that there is no huge volume of transit of freight between the two cities. Port cities by their very nature compete with one another for business, they don't complement one another.
We will discuss this and other issues tonight in what should be a rousing discussion. In all candor, we respect one another but do have serious differences. But the best way to try and resolve issues is for those of differing opinion to be involved in figuring out how to resolve the differences where a win-win, not a win-lose, results. We hope you will join us. Here's the link to the show. It can be used to preview as well as actually watch the live show, afterwhich it will be available on demand 24/7. See you then.
tobtr.com/s/8470635
Indeed rural North Florida is under great stress as Governor Scott and his team seems determined to turn the entire state into one large urban area. And while I realize that Florida will grow, the question is where and how fast, for the current roads are crumbling, the water supply is showing stress and added pollution and no one is addressing these factors adequately. Repair and modification of existing roadways seems highly preferable to grandiose new project schemes of a pie in the sky variety.
Of particular concern is the study's inclusion of the possibility of extended a superhighway toll road through a very wet area, eastern Alachua County. The supposed reason for considering this is the need to put a direct link in place for traffic between two port cities, Jacksonville and Tampa, with the coming of the new Panama Canal. The only problem with the argument is that there is no huge volume of transit of freight between the two cities. Port cities by their very nature compete with one another for business, they don't complement one another.
We will discuss this and other issues tonight in what should be a rousing discussion. In all candor, we respect one another but do have serious differences. But the best way to try and resolve issues is for those of differing opinion to be involved in figuring out how to resolve the differences where a win-win, not a win-lose, results. We hope you will join us. Here's the link to the show. It can be used to preview as well as actually watch the live show, afterwhich it will be available on demand 24/7. See you then.
tobtr.com/s/8470635
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