By Dan Tracy, Orlando Sentinel 3:01 p.m. EST, January 28, 2010
TAMPA - President Barack Obama on Thursday promised that he would one day be a passenger on a high-speed train connecting Orlando with Tampa.
"I'm going to come back down here and ride on it," he said, his words often drowned out by a boisterous crowd attending a town-hall meeting on the campus of the University of Tampa.
The project was one of 13 involving 31 states that Obama announced would receive a total of $8 billion in federal-stimulus funds for fast trains. The Central Florida plan got $1.25 billion -- nearly half of what state officials requested for it.
Obama's talk was a cross between a campaign speech and a rehash of his State of the Union address on Wednesday night. He spent relatively little time discussing high-speed rail -- the topic that brought him and a long list of city, state and congressional leaders to Tampa.
But that did not dampen the enthusiasm of an Orlando contingent that included Mayor Buddy Dyer, who met Obama when Air Force One touched down at MacDill Air Force Base near downtown Tampa.
"Today is the day to celebrate," Dyer said.
Vice President Joe Biden, who also came to Tampa, said the Florida bid was selected because it was the most advanced of all the requests considered by the administration. Sunshine State officials have been planning high-speed rail for more than 20 years.
Biden called the $1.25 billion "seed money,'' adding that "more funding is going to come in the future as progress is made."
That's welcome news to the Florida Department of Transportation, which will build the 84-mile system that would start at Orlando International Airport and run mostly along the median of Interstate 4.
The money handed out by the Obama administration is just less than half of the $2.6 billion the state estimates it needs to complete the project.
Although state and local officials are awaiting the details of how and when they will get the money, the grant is enough to pay for about three years of work, transportation experts say.
The most likely scenario would be to use the initial funding to build the foundation of the system, including moving utilities and creating the platforms for each stop and the roadbed for the tracks.
"This is the beginning of the program," said Ed Turanchik, who runs ConnectUs, a nonprofit Tampa group that lobbies for high-speed rail.
If the schedule that the state DOT laid out holds true, the train could begin operating in late 2014 or early 2015.
There are no concrete plans yet to link the train with SunRail, the planned $1.2 billion commuter train recently approved by state lawmakers for Central Florida. The first phase of SunRail, from DeBary in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to Sand Lake Road in south Orange County, should be operating when the high-speed train is complete.
Dyer said local officials and the state DOT have had "very preliminary" talks about how to hook up the two lines. Bus service is one option, but Dyer said he would like to see some sort of rail connection.
Obama and Biden, speaking to about 3,000 people, many of them college students, said they support high-speed rail because it creates jobs and gives motorists on congested roads a way to get out of their cars.
Florida officials say the Orlando-Tampa project could create 23,000 construction and 1,000 professional-service jobs.
"It will have far-reaching consequences," said Biden, who later added, "more importantly, we are creating jobs, good jobs."
Not everyone, however, praised the project.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, a strong supporter of SunRail, said in a statement that the Orlando-Tampa route would be too slow. He said it would go no faster than 110 mph -- even though the state contends it will top out at 168 mph.
"Just spending huge amounts of federal taxpayer funds will not ensure success of these megaprojects. The last thing the American people need is another bailout program with low-speed trains to nowhere," Mica said.
But another well-known Florida Republican, C.C. "Doc" Dockery of Lakeland, applauded Obama for funding the train. Dockery is a retired insurance magnate and husband of state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, a major SunRail opponent. He has been trying to get high-speed trains running in Florida since the 1980s.
"I think President Obama is the most visionary president we've had since President Eisenhower, who started the [interstate] highway system," Dockery said.
Florida received the second biggest slice of the $8 billion pie for high-speed rail.
California was first, getting $2.3 billion to begin work on an 800-mile line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego. A third major grant was $1.1 billion to improve a rail line between Chicago and St. Louis so that trains travel up to 110 mph.
Earlier, Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist were reunited -- briefly -- after the president landed at MacDill.
They shook hands but didn't hug. The Republican governor has drawn fire from members of his party for an earlier hug between Obama and Crist, and for Crist's support of the federal stimulus bill.
"I want to thank him on behalf of my fellow Floridians," Crist said before he greeted the president. "To be able to generate tens of thousands of jobs right now is mission number one."
TAMPA - President Barack Obama on Thursday promised that he would one day be a passenger on a high-speed train connecting Orlando with Tampa.
"I'm going to come back down here and ride on it," he said, his words often drowned out by a boisterous crowd attending a town-hall meeting on the campus of the University of Tampa.
The project was one of 13 involving 31 states that Obama announced would receive a total of $8 billion in federal-stimulus funds for fast trains. The Central Florida plan got $1.25 billion -- nearly half of what state officials requested for it.
Obama's talk was a cross between a campaign speech and a rehash of his State of the Union address on Wednesday night. He spent relatively little time discussing high-speed rail -- the topic that brought him and a long list of city, state and congressional leaders to Tampa.
But that did not dampen the enthusiasm of an Orlando contingent that included Mayor Buddy Dyer, who met Obama when Air Force One touched down at MacDill Air Force Base near downtown Tampa.
"Today is the day to celebrate," Dyer said.
Vice President Joe Biden, who also came to Tampa, said the Florida bid was selected because it was the most advanced of all the requests considered by the administration. Sunshine State officials have been planning high-speed rail for more than 20 years.
Biden called the $1.25 billion "seed money,'' adding that "more funding is going to come in the future as progress is made."
That's welcome news to the Florida Department of Transportation, which will build the 84-mile system that would start at Orlando International Airport and run mostly along the median of Interstate 4.
The money handed out by the Obama administration is just less than half of the $2.6 billion the state estimates it needs to complete the project.
Although state and local officials are awaiting the details of how and when they will get the money, the grant is enough to pay for about three years of work, transportation experts say.
The most likely scenario would be to use the initial funding to build the foundation of the system, including moving utilities and creating the platforms for each stop and the roadbed for the tracks.
"This is the beginning of the program," said Ed Turanchik, who runs ConnectUs, a nonprofit Tampa group that lobbies for high-speed rail.
If the schedule that the state DOT laid out holds true, the train could begin operating in late 2014 or early 2015.
There are no concrete plans yet to link the train with SunRail, the planned $1.2 billion commuter train recently approved by state lawmakers for Central Florida. The first phase of SunRail, from DeBary in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to Sand Lake Road in south Orange County, should be operating when the high-speed train is complete.
Dyer said local officials and the state DOT have had "very preliminary" talks about how to hook up the two lines. Bus service is one option, but Dyer said he would like to see some sort of rail connection.
Obama and Biden, speaking to about 3,000 people, many of them college students, said they support high-speed rail because it creates jobs and gives motorists on congested roads a way to get out of their cars.
Florida officials say the Orlando-Tampa project could create 23,000 construction and 1,000 professional-service jobs.
"It will have far-reaching consequences," said Biden, who later added, "more importantly, we are creating jobs, good jobs."
Not everyone, however, praised the project.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, a strong supporter of SunRail, said in a statement that the Orlando-Tampa route would be too slow. He said it would go no faster than 110 mph -- even though the state contends it will top out at 168 mph.
"Just spending huge amounts of federal taxpayer funds will not ensure success of these megaprojects. The last thing the American people need is another bailout program with low-speed trains to nowhere," Mica said.
But another well-known Florida Republican, C.C. "Doc" Dockery of Lakeland, applauded Obama for funding the train. Dockery is a retired insurance magnate and husband of state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, a major SunRail opponent. He has been trying to get high-speed trains running in Florida since the 1980s.
"I think President Obama is the most visionary president we've had since President Eisenhower, who started the [interstate] highway system," Dockery said.
Florida received the second biggest slice of the $8 billion pie for high-speed rail.
California was first, getting $2.3 billion to begin work on an 800-mile line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego. A third major grant was $1.1 billion to improve a rail line between Chicago and St. Louis so that trains travel up to 110 mph.
Earlier, Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist were reunited -- briefly -- after the president landed at MacDill.
They shook hands but didn't hug. The Republican governor has drawn fire from members of his party for an earlier hug between Obama and Crist, and for Crist's support of the federal stimulus bill.
"I want to thank him on behalf of my fellow Floridians," Crist said before he greeted the president. "To be able to generate tens of thousands of jobs right now is mission number one."
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