The cover of the Hillsborough South County Transportation Plan bears this slogan: Transportation leadership you can trust. George Orwell would have loved that.
Two things (about the only two things) you can trust about this plan are that it reflects horrible judgment and that it’s blessed by a county government owned and operated by developers.
Sprawl sucks. It’s bad for the natural environment. It’s expensive. It increases our dependence on imported oil. It increases our reliance on oil period. It reduces productivity. It diminishes quality of life and, ultimately, makes communities less competitive. Tampa Bay is a classic example. We live in the land of leapfrog development and uncontrolled growth. We live and breathe sprawl around here.
Leadership you can trust recognizes this, of course, and developed a plan to contain sprawl and improve public transportation. Put down the stem. This is Hillsborough County we’re talking about.
Scroll down the plan’s final list of projects (posted courtesy of Rural Lithia Area Neighborhood Defense) and notice all the new roads, new interchanges, wider roads and realigned roads. Henry Ford would have loved this. Together these roads would virtually destroy the rural character of a huge portion of southeastern Hillsborough. They’re even talking about a new six-lane bypass route running right through what is now rural property.
You have to go 79 items deep on this nightmare before you come to something called “Alternative modes.” Sounds like some kind of molecular transporter thingy. Actually, one alternative mode involves converting an existing CSX rail line to commuter rail (and, if you’ve been reading the fish wrappers, you know the prospects for that are dubious at best). The other is a ferry boat. And because ferry boats are highly advanced, untested and technically complex, that one requires further study.
Starting to get the picture of what transportation leadership you can trust has in mind? It’s a developer’s wet dream. Still a little confused? Here is the picture. Notice the big fat green line running through the middle of that undeveloped property? That’s a brand new six-lane bypass route. And if leadership you can trust has its way, it will need to be widened about the time it’s finished.