Committee seeks U.S. 98 funding
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Broxson

Transportation officials don't want to break the bank when it comes to upgrading the oft-congested corridor that is U.S. 98. Since local Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) officials voted to remove U.S. 98 from their list of projects to receive funding, Santa Rosa County TPO delegates are working to see if 98 could be eligible for a different and more abundant source of state funding. However, requirement changes may have to come down from the state legislature in order for the Gulf Breeze/Navarre corridor to qualify. Additionally, if the changes do come, local officials are still not sure if the program is a good fit for the highway.

At the April TPO meeting, which consists of policy makers from Santa Rosa County, Escambia County, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Pensacola and Baldwin County, Ala., members decided to ask the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to give a detailed analysis about the alternate funding source. Local leaders want to make sure that the program, officially called Strategic Intermodal Transportation System (SIS), is a good fit for 98 in the years to come.

"It may be that the restrictions [of SIS funding] may be such that it might not be worth it," said Santa Rosa County Commissioner John Broxson. "It must qualify for a lower number of vehicles or we may not be able to add any trips to that mix. They might freeze us at the level we are at."

Broxson said making SIS funding available for 98 would put the highway "on the fat side of the budget." Broxson added that 75 percent of state transportation dollars will be spent on SIS projects. However, Commissioner Gordon Goodin of Navarre said SIS is not the way to go with 98.

"It would probably be a very bad idea," Goodin said. "We can't maintain the standards, nor would we want to maintain them. It's not practical to attempt it. It's not an achievable goal."

Currently, SIS funding, established by the state in 2003, is designated to roadways that connect airports, seaports, spaceports and railway terminals among other important elements of the state's transportation infrastructure. To include 98 in SIS, local politicians say the legislation that regulates the program would have to be altered to include military bases.

Area roads currently included in SIS are 87 South, Highway 29 and I-10.

"We asked the FDOT to give an analysis of the benefits and detractions to SIS funding and let us review that before we formally do anything," Broxson said.