Citrus Chronicle
By: Terry Witt (terrywitt@chronicleonline.com)
Published: 18-Mar-2005

With Suncoast Parkway 2 stalled by a lawsuit and a standoff with the Federal Highway Administration, the state is looking for ways to move the project forward, including dumping the current environmental study, the project director said Thursday.

Nathan Silva, who works for the Florida Turnpike Enterprise, said one option would be to abandon the current Project Development and Engineering (PD&E) study and instead use the route approved at the conclusion of the first Suncoast Parkway 2 PD&E study on Feb. 6, 1998.

He said the option has one main advantage. Using the previous route would eliminate the need to meet federal requirements for the toll road's construction, which would eliminate the impasse with the FHA, he said.

"That's an adopted alignment, and if there was support, we could use it," Silva said.

The FHA got involved after the state put the federal government on notice that it may request up to $160 million for Suncoast 2.

FHA is insisting the state conduct a detailed environmental review of all 10 proposed alignments in the current PD&E study. State legislators and the Citrus County Commission are pressing to narrow the number of alignments to three.

If the old PD&E route were used, it would trigger a mandatory state review of the development that occurred along the route since 1998. The state requires such a review when three years lapse between phases in a state road project.

Without federal funding, the state would have to finance construction of the road with its own toll road revenues. Silva said the estimated construction cost of building the 27-mile four-lane road through Citrus County has often been estimated at $200 million, but he said the total cost, including buying right of way, would be about $600 million.

As for the lawsuit, Silva said the concept of using the previous PD&E study results has not been discussed with the state's transportation lawyers. He said he is not sure whether abandoning the study would moot the issues that triggered a lawsuit about Sunshine Law violations by the Environmental Resource and Regulatory Group (ERRAG).

Citrus County residents Teddi Bierly and Robert Roscow filed suit against the Florida Department of Transportation ERRAG violated the Sunshine Law meeting behind closed doors about Suncoast 2 issues.

A judge ordered the state to cure the problem it created. But Bierly and Roscow insist the only cure is for ERRAG to start from scratch and throw out its work product. An April 18 mediation session is scheduled in Tallahassee.

Although the first PD&E study was completed, Silva said the results were shelved when federal funding was allocated to Suncoast 2 from the state's abandoned high-speed rail program.

He said the state started a new PD&E study, but this time had to meet Federal Highway Administration environmental standards.

However, Silva said, all federal dollars for Suncoast 2 have now been reallocated to other projects. As of now, he said, there is no federal funding available for Suncoast 2.