Transportation

Despite few bumps, state's roads are better

When it comes to roads and bridges, Florida has made good use of federal funds, a study says.

By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 31, 2003

It might be hard to believe as you bounce over Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa or rattle up the washboard of U.S. 19 in Pinellas Park, but the condition of Florida's roads has improved dramatically in the past decade.

Of course, things could always be better.

A national study released Thursday concludes that the $300-billion spent by the federal government on transportation projects since 1992 has produced good results.

But they're not as good as they might have been because some states -- including Florida -- have diverted road and bridge repair funds to other transportation projects, some of dubious value.

The study, done by the nonprofit Surface Transportation Policy Project in Washington, D.C., comes as Congress prepares to renew the transportation bill that could contain as much as $250-billion in additional spending over the next five to six years.

"The good news is that things have gotten better as a result of targeted transportation funds under the two most recent federal transportation bills," said Kevin McCarty, senior policy director at STPP.

"The bad news is that we would have had fewer potholes, safer roads and bridges and cleaner air if states hadn't played a shell game with the taxpayers' transportation dollars."

Of the nearly $9.3-billion in federal transportation funds allocated to Florida between 1992 and 2001, the largest share, 36 percent, went to build more roads, although that was a larger slice of the pie than the federal government intended. The state did that by shifting funds from other programs.

"Florida got $351.3-million for air quality improvements but only spent 75 percent of that on cleaner air," said Andrea Broaddus, state and local campaign manager for the STPP. "Yet surface transportation programs, which can include about anything the state wants to do including new roads, spent 120 percent of their funds. The money was diverted from something else."

The next largest expenditures were for road repair and bridge repair.

Dick Kane, spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation in Tallahassee, took exception to some of the study's conclusions.

"Federal funds only make up 25 to 30 percent of our total transportation budget," Kane said. "The report doesn't take state funds into account. For example, they say we don't spend enough on maintenance, but in the 2001-2002 fiscal year, we spent nearly $400-million on routine maintenance, all state funds.

"They say we're not doing enough for bicyclists. But on all projects where there is room, we put in 5-foot shoulders. How can you present a fair analysis when you only look at a third of the picture?"

The report isn't totally critical of Florida. The state ranks fourth for expenditure of federal transportation money to improve roads judged to be in less than good condition. Since 1994, Florida has gone from having more than 68 percent of its roads judged not in good condition to less than 20 percent.

The news is even better for structurally deficient bridges.

"Florida has the best bridges in the country," said Broaddus, "but that has a lot to do with their ages. They're much newer than bridges in the Northeast and out West."

In 1992, 4 percent of the state's bridges were judged in ill repair. In 2001, it dropped to 3 percent, although that 3 percent added up to 300 bridges. The report does not identify specific roads or bridges in disrepair.

While most of the study results are offered on a statewide basis, statistics on pedestrian safety are broken down by major metropolitan area, and only the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region ranked worse than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater for pedestrian fatalities in Florida.

Nevertheless, the local record is improving with 81 pedestrian fatalities in 2001 compared to 97 in 2000.

The federal dollars spent here to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety averaged 41 cents per person per year.

By contrast, Ocala spent $3.90 and Punta Gorda $3.08. Worst was the Lakeland-Winter Haven area, which spent nothing.

These statistics helped sink the state to the position of seventh worst in the nation for annual safety spending per traffic fatality of any kind, just over $22,000. Rhode Island is best at nearly $336,000 per fatality, Arizona worst at $9,600.

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