Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Janelle Irwin TaylorJanuary 11, 2019

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St. Pete City Council is backing a plan to speed up improvements to the Westshore interchange where the Howard Frankland Bridge meets State Road 60, the Veterans Expressway and the on and off-ramp to Tampa International Airport. “The Westshore District and Pinellas County’s Gateway area at the western end of the Howard Frankland Bridge comprise […]

Danny McAuliffeJanuary 10, 2019

Gov. Ron DeSantis will consider three former or current employees of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to be the next head of the state agency. The Florida Transportation Commission (FTC), as required by law, agreed to a shortlist of contenders on Thursday after interviewing potentials for the job. Richard Biter, Kevin Thibault and Phillip Gainer made the cut. The names won’t […]

Danny McAuliffeJanuary 9, 2019

The Florida Transportation Commission will soon submit to Gov. Ron DeSantis a shortlist of three candidates to lead the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). The nine-member panel met in person and by phone on Wednesday to discuss 12 applicants who had sought the state agency gig. Commission members whittled the list to five and will attempt […]

Janelle Irwin TaylorDecember 19, 2018

The Federal Transit Administration awarded the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority $1.2 million through its Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development Planning, the agency announced Wednesday. The grant will fund transit-oriented development planning along the proposed Central Avenue Bus Rapid Transit route planned to connect downtown St. Petersburg to the Gulf Beaches along First Avenues North and […]

Scott PowersNovember 8, 2018

Brightline, the operator of the new South Florida private passenger train service with plans to extend to Orlando, has submitted the only proposal to Florida officials for a proposed new route from Orlando to Tampa. The Florida Department of Transportation announced late Wednesday that Brightline, which initiated the process by submitting an unsolicited proposal in […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 12, 2018

Lenny Curry is fond of tweeting: “Plan all the way to the end.” But at the end of 2016, when the Jacksonville mayor first pitched removal of the Hart Bridge offramps, some were confused as to what that plan was. Curry brought a poster board into the Duval delegation meeting, and said he wanted $50 […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 19, 2018

A transportation plan for the Tampa Bay area that would use bus rapid transit (BRT) and not rail to move riders from Wesley Chapel in Pasco County to downtown St. Petersburg was introduced to the public Friday. Called a “catalyst” project because of the hopes that it would jumpstart transit planning in the region, the […]

Jim RosicaOctober 26, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday told the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) “to work with other state agencies, Florida ports, law enforcement and fuel retailers to begin examining ways to increase fuel capacity during emergencies such as hurricanes,” according to a press release. The department’s report will be submitted next January and “will include recommendations […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 17, 2017

Last November, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry made an audacious ask of the Duval County Legislative Delegation: $50M to remove and replace the Hart Bridge offramps. “The ramps were originally designed to bypass the industrialized waterfront,” Curry said in 2016, a purpose outmoded in the half-century since the original construction. Curry’s ask: “To knock the [current] ramp […]

Mitch PerryOctober 10, 2017

Florida Department of Transportation officials call Tampa Bay Next a “process,” one in which more input from the public is always welcome. That attitude is impressing some of the agency’s critics, after what was widely perceived as a heavy-handed approach with the now-defunct Tampa Bay Express project, the multibillion-dollar proposal that most prominently included adding […]

Tag: FDOT

St. Pete joins list of regional support for Westshore interchange overhaul

Three names for Transportation Secretary forwarded to Ron DeSantis

Panel to interview five candidates to lead Department of Transportation

Central Avenue BRT nabs $1.2 million grant for transit-oriented development

Brightline submits only proposal for Orlando-Tampa train line

Talleyrand Connector money illustrates Lenny Curry’s long game

Rapid transit plan – Wesley Chapel to St. Pete – gets unveiled

Rick Scott wants more gas for Florida

Hart Bridge ‘design criteria project’ cleared for Jax Council vote

Residents, critics speak out on Tampa Bay Next ‘process’