Transportation

The Future Corridors Action Plan
Updated February 13, 2007

Generating grave concern among smart growth advocates, on December 29, 2006, the Florida Department of Transportation adopted Florida's Future Corridors Action Plan. Both the Action Plan and the recently adopted 2025 Florida Transportation Plan call for integrating transportation planning with long range vision plans for each region of the state. But the hastily adopted Action Plan goes on to authorize four "prototype future corridor studies" to be completed over the coming year, despite the absence of the required long-range regional vision plans.

Says 1000 Friends Vice Chairman Tim Jackson, who has taken a lead on this issue, "Without these (regional) visions, we are simply putting a new name on the old processes that have led us to our current state of backlogs, conflicts, and unsustainable land use patterns."

Prototypes include:

transformation of existing corridor;
new corridor-interregional connectivity;
new corridor-interstate connectivity; and,
new corridor-economically distressed/developing area.

Making matters worse, the four prototypes are skipping the initial "concept" phase called for in the Action Plan, instead beginning at the "feasibility" stage 1000 Friends continues to monitor the process closely, sending strong messages to the Florida Department of Transportation outlining these concerns.