Dear Mr. Roscow and Ms. Vu,

1) The current PD&E schedule calls for Location Design Concept Acceptance being received from the Federal Highway Administration in mid 2006. The schedule is being pushed back because of the additional time required to address all issues and concerns that have been raised.

2) As stated in my December 31st email to Ms. Vu, no Federal funding requests have been made for this project. Standard Form 424 is submitted as part of the Advance Notification Package as required by Florida Law. As stated in Part 1, Chapter 2 of the Florida Department of Transportation Project Development and Environment Manual, "It (the Advance Notification) is also the process of giving notice of the Department's intent to apply for Federal-aid on a project."

3) The Florida Department of Transportation, including Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, is frequently mentioned in newspaper articles, editorials, letters to the editor, local television and radio news stories as well as web sites in relation to the many transportation issues and pending or proposed Department projects. As the project manager for the Suncoast Parkway 2 project, I have provided information to the news media in response to questions concerning this project. It is the responsibility of the news media to accurately report all the pertinent facts, and any editorial in a newspaper represents the opinion of the editorial review board of that paper. The occasions on which the Department responds to inaccurate, misleading, or confusing statements found in any type of media, as to the facts concerning Department matters, and the way in which any Department response is communicated, are a function of and at the determination of the respective Public Information offices within the Department.

4) The "No-Build" will be analyzed after the "Build" alternatives are identified and evaluated. Let me try to explain this using an analogy. Lets say you are trying to decide whether to buy a new car or not and you are going to analyze the "No-Buy" option first. How much will you save by not buying the car? How much less or more will you spend on gas? Insurance? These questions can not be answered unless you first identify the type of car you are considering to purchase. The criteria for the selection of a "Build" or 'No-Build" option are clearly defined in the National Environmental Policy Act, with the final decision being made by the Federal Highway Administration.