Beltway foes try offering ideas
By Jim Stratton
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 27, 2002
Environmentalists who for years have fiercely fought efforts to complete a bypass around Orlando are now prepared to work with transportation officials to resurrect the idea.
Under a plan hammered out by leading environmental groups and toll-road officials, planners will revisit the western-beltway issue during the next six months. The road, if built, would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and stretch for 10 to 15 miles.
The plan is part of a larger agreement between the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and a long list of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Audubon of Florida and Friends of the Wekiva.
The groups will examine transportation, development and growth issues in the northwest area of Orange, Lake and Seminole counties. As part of that, the group will try to determine whether a beltway connection to Interstate 4 can be made in a way that satisfies both transportation officials and environmentalists.
Expressway Chairman Allan Keen called the deal "a major breakthrough," saying the idea "has never had this sort of consensus before."
'Get out in front of this'
Environmentalists are willing to revisit the beltway idea because they fear the alternative.
The state has talked about widening State Road 46 in Seminole and Lake counties. That could increase pressure to widen the two-lane roads that now run north and south between S.R. 46 and Apopka -- where the Western Expressway now ends.
Those roads, the environmentalists worry, would become magnets for development.
"That would be devastating," said Charles Lee, Audubon of Florida's senior vice president. "They'd end up looking like [State Road] 436 in Casselberry."
A better option, said the Sierra Club's Keith Schue, is to "get out in front of this thing" and work to design a limited-access highway with fewer environmental impacts.
To be acceptable to environmental groups, the road would have few interchanges -- they would prefer one at each end -- and would be elevated in places to ensure it didn't prevent movement of wildlife.
Environmentalists also hope officials will set money aside to buy sensitive land, such as wetlands, in the area and create regulations to protect rural land. The project likely would be financed by pledging future toll collections to pay off the debt.
"This may be a chance to take some very sensitive lands off the table," Schue said.
Other project may be dead
In return for their cooperation, the environmental groups have asked -- and the expressway authority has agreed -- to suspend work on a proposed northwest extension of the Western Expressway, also known as State Road 429. Officials had expected to recommend a route in September, but that won't happen now until December or January -- if at all.
Environmentalists oppose the northwest extension, saying it would benefit only developers. They want the expressway authority to abandon the idea entirely when the study is complete.
"It's a dumb idea, and we've said as much," Lee said. "We think the expressway authority was working on that because they didn't have anything better to do."
Expressway authority officials have said a northwest extension would ease traffic on increasingly crowded U.S. Highway 441. But some board members are willing to look at other options, especially if it means securing the environmental groups' help with the western beltway.
That connection is a top priority of several elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Orlando, and Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty. And in a recent survey, 67 percent of respondents in Central Florida supported completing the loop.
While no routes have been identified for the northern link to the interstate, the most likely scenario would be to extend S.R. 429 north and then turn it to the east to hook up with S.R. 46, which leads to I-4.
Fifteen years ago, the western beltway was one of the region's most high-profile and controversial transportation projects. Officials planned a tolled superhighway that would start at I-4 just south of S.R. 46. It would run southwest, passing through west Orange County on its way to I-4 near Disney.
Planners studied the road for several years, but the expressway authority dropped the northern leg in 1994, citing environmental and cost concerns. The road would have cut through the heart of the Wekiva River basin, virtual holy ground to environmentalists. Any new route would be north and west of the original plan.
Plan still might be stopped
The beltway idea has been resurrected several times since 1994, but it has failed to gather momentum. It may still falter, because would-be opponents have plenty of ammunition. For example:
When the expressway authority proposed expanding into Lake County and building a spur to connect to I-4, county commissioners faced opposition from residents who said they wanted no part of the road.
On Friday, Lake County Commission Chairman Bob Pool said he welcomed renewed debate, calling the stretch "an important missing link."
Three years ago, a state study concluded there was no need for a north-south road from S.R. 46 to Apopka. Expressway-authority officials say that study was poorly done.
And seven years ago, state consultants concluded that a western beltway would pull relatively little traffic off I-4 -- less than 7 percent.
Expressway authority Executive Director Harold Worrall said that today, the figure is probably closer to 10 percent, but he said there has been no study to confirm that. Nevertheless, he said, the beltway isn't important because of what it could do today or tomorrow, but what it means for the future.
"We're looking at what it will be like 15 or 20 years from now," he said.
Jason Garcia of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Jim Stratton can be reached at 407-420-5379 or jstratton@orlandosentinel.com.
Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...ay27072702jul27.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
By Jim Stratton
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 27, 2002
Environmentalists who for years have fiercely fought efforts to complete a bypass around Orlando are now prepared to work with transportation officials to resurrect the idea.
Under a plan hammered out by leading environmental groups and toll-road officials, planners will revisit the western-beltway issue during the next six months. The road, if built, would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and stretch for 10 to 15 miles.
The plan is part of a larger agreement between the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and a long list of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Audubon of Florida and Friends of the Wekiva.
The groups will examine transportation, development and growth issues in the northwest area of Orange, Lake and Seminole counties. As part of that, the group will try to determine whether a beltway connection to Interstate 4 can be made in a way that satisfies both transportation officials and environmentalists.
Expressway Chairman Allan Keen called the deal "a major breakthrough," saying the idea "has never had this sort of consensus before."
'Get out in front of this'
Environmentalists are willing to revisit the beltway idea because they fear the alternative.
The state has talked about widening State Road 46 in Seminole and Lake counties. That could increase pressure to widen the two-lane roads that now run north and south between S.R. 46 and Apopka -- where the Western Expressway now ends.
Those roads, the environmentalists worry, would become magnets for development.
"That would be devastating," said Charles Lee, Audubon of Florida's senior vice president. "They'd end up looking like [State Road] 436 in Casselberry."
A better option, said the Sierra Club's Keith Schue, is to "get out in front of this thing" and work to design a limited-access highway with fewer environmental impacts.
To be acceptable to environmental groups, the road would have few interchanges -- they would prefer one at each end -- and would be elevated in places to ensure it didn't prevent movement of wildlife.
Environmentalists also hope officials will set money aside to buy sensitive land, such as wetlands, in the area and create regulations to protect rural land. The project likely would be financed by pledging future toll collections to pay off the debt.
"This may be a chance to take some very sensitive lands off the table," Schue said.
Other project may be dead
In return for their cooperation, the environmental groups have asked -- and the expressway authority has agreed -- to suspend work on a proposed northwest extension of the Western Expressway, also known as State Road 429. Officials had expected to recommend a route in September, but that won't happen now until December or January -- if at all.
Environmentalists oppose the northwest extension, saying it would benefit only developers. They want the expressway authority to abandon the idea entirely when the study is complete.
"It's a dumb idea, and we've said as much," Lee said. "We think the expressway authority was working on that because they didn't have anything better to do."
Expressway authority officials have said a northwest extension would ease traffic on increasingly crowded U.S. Highway 441. But some board members are willing to look at other options, especially if it means securing the environmental groups' help with the western beltway.
That connection is a top priority of several elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Orlando, and Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty. And in a recent survey, 67 percent of respondents in Central Florida supported completing the loop.
While no routes have been identified for the northern link to the interstate, the most likely scenario would be to extend S.R. 429 north and then turn it to the east to hook up with S.R. 46, which leads to I-4.
Fifteen years ago, the western beltway was one of the region's most high-profile and controversial transportation projects. Officials planned a tolled superhighway that would start at I-4 just south of S.R. 46. It would run southwest, passing through west Orange County on its way to I-4 near Disney.
Planners studied the road for several years, but the expressway authority dropped the northern leg in 1994, citing environmental and cost concerns. The road would have cut through the heart of the Wekiva River basin, virtual holy ground to environmentalists. Any new route would be north and west of the original plan.
Plan still might be stopped
The beltway idea has been resurrected several times since 1994, but it has failed to gather momentum. It may still falter, because would-be opponents have plenty of ammunition. For example:
When the expressway authority proposed expanding into Lake County and building a spur to connect to I-4, county commissioners faced opposition from residents who said they wanted no part of the road.
On Friday, Lake County Commission Chairman Bob Pool said he welcomed renewed debate, calling the stretch "an important missing link."
Three years ago, a state study concluded there was no need for a north-south road from S.R. 46 to Apopka. Expressway-authority officials say that study was poorly done.
And seven years ago, state consultants concluded that a western beltway would pull relatively little traffic off I-4 -- less than 7 percent.
Expressway authority Executive Director Harold Worrall said that today, the figure is probably closer to 10 percent, but he said there has been no study to confirm that. Nevertheless, he said, the beltway isn't important because of what it could do today or tomorrow, but what it means for the future.
"We're looking at what it will be like 15 or 20 years from now," he said.
Jason Garcia of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Jim Stratton can be reached at 407-420-5379 or jstratton@orlandosentinel.com.
Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...ay27072702jul27.story?coll=orl-home-headlines