Florida East Coast (FEC) Corridor Study

This is from the following website: www.sfeccstudy.com

"The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 4 is leading a regional partnership that is conducting the South Florida East Coast Corridor (SFECC) Transit Analysis Study.The scope of this Transit Analysis Study (TAS) is to develop and analyze alternatives that potentially integrate passenger and freight transport along the SFECC, which is centered along the existing FEC Railway. The study will consider various alignments and transit technologies. Right-of-way on streets and areas parallel to the SFECC, as well as stretches of waterways, will be evaluated for the alternative transit routes. The different technologies that will be considered include bus, waterway transit, light-rail, commuter-rail, and heavy-rail."

I was fortunate to go to the kick-off of the study that was held at the Kravis Center in late April of this year. This project has significant long term implications for coastal communities, chief among them the City of Lake Worth. The prospect of a train running with short "head ways" (times between train arrivals) that could take you to the north or south part of Lake Worth, or a quick trip to City Place from Lake Worth would all be a possibility. Beyond trains, they are also looking at dedicated buses that would work on the corridor in much the same way - there are many options in terms of the actual vehicles to be used to achieve this provision of transit service to the eastern corridor of South Florida.

There are many complications with this study - and coordination with freight train service and potential competition with Tri-Rail are among them. Time estimated to actually have service in place on the FEC corridor is a disappointing 2012 to 2019. But, providing additional transportation opportunities to the more densely populated communities along the South Florida coast is an idea whose time has more than arrived if we are serious about directing quality redevelopment to the east and getting away from the single passenger, gasoline powered vehicle.

I encourage you to refer to this website (noted above) as the study continues so that you can be part of the decision making process. We also need to keep this in mind as we plot our changes to the City's Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations that are a product of the Master Plan process.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"