Florida's Boondoggle Or New Bullet Train?

30 October 2003 - 4:00am

Florida's High Speed Rail Authority selects a route and firm to run the system that the State must back for 30 years.

One of the hottest debates has focused on the proposed routes: "If a route along the Central Florida Greenway is picked, Disney World promises to try to get its millions of visitors to ride it, giving the project its best hope of financial viability -- but bypassing Orlando's other tourist and economic hubs and impacting schools and the Hunter's Creek neighborhood. If the chosen route is the Bee Line Expressway, it could serve Orange County's newly expanded billion-dollar convention center -- but Disney and Osceola County object. Although voters ordered the system to connect Florida's cities by passing a constitutional amendment, no financial commitments have been made, and Governor Jeb Bush opposes the train."

Source: Sun-Sentinel, October 28, 2003
Bookmark and Share
Much like Victorian reformers of the 1890s, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment for urban reform. Rather than standardization, sanitation, and social order, cities are now looking to promote "livability" and "sustainability".