Assignment #9: Local infrastructure

Assignment description: "…select an infrastructure decision recently made or about to be made

in your community…determine the degree to which each principle (of infrastructure equity) was
followed and give evidence of your assessment."

Infrastructure decision: "… the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), in cooperation

with local government officials in Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Osceola counties and the
federal government, is looking at a commuter rail transit project to run along a 61-mile stretch
of existing rail freight tracks in the four-county area." (www.cfrail.com, accessed 27 October
2006 – see Figure 1).

Research: The public website for the Central Florida Commuter Rail project, www.cfrail.com,
was thoroughly mined for information that could be used to determine to what degree
PolicyLink's seven principles of infrastructure equity were followed in the decision to implement
commuter rail. For questions that were not addressed at the commuter rail website, other web-
accessible sources were consulted. These sources provided a needed alternative viewpoint to the
decidedly positive "spin" on the project provided by the commuter rail website itself.
Additionally, the Public Liaison for the commuter rail project was contacted via email with a set
of questions for which answers could not be found on the commuter rail website. No answer was
received at the time the assignment was written up.

Figure 1. Main page of www.cfrail.com, accessed 27 October 2006.

Principles of infrastructure equity and degree to which they were followed:

Principle 1 - Infrastructure decisions should be beneficial to all affected persons:

Communities located in Orlando and its suburbs will benefit the most from commuter
rail, with the benefits decreasing the further out from Orlando you go. While some
businesses and residences may be adversely affected by the increased rail traffic ("7
businesses, one warehouse, one parking lot and 13 residences will be bought" through
eminent domain), the most prevalent of these adverse effects are very small (some more
noise, which they already experience, and more frequent, although fewer, train
crossings). Overall, the commuter rail project will be beneficial to the community as a
whole and to the residences and businesses most directly affected. In fact, these
residences and businesses will see particular benefits that other areas will not experience
directly: "Experience from other cities with commuter rail shows that improvement
comes to the areas around the stations. This includes higher-density residential
development for commuters who work downtown, and restaurants and shops catering to
those workers and visitors taking advantage of the commuter line. The stations provide an
opportunity to focus new development, enhance bicycle and pedestrian access and
connectivity, streetscape improvements and other benefits.
Each station will be constructed with public safety in mind including open sight lines,
plenty of lighting and will be designed with ADA accessibility features.
Local residents, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists will benefit from (these) safety and
security measures." The environmental impact of the commuter rail system is still being
studied, however "air pollution is not an issue…according to environmental analyses
conducted by the state. In fact, car emissions are far more of an ongoing air pollution
challenge than is rail." The run times of the commuter rail are geared toward full-time
workers on a regular, daytime shift. Therefore, using the rail will be difficult for part-
time, evening and 'graveyard' shift workers. This is justified as a temporary measure
because "the idea behind commuter rail is to provide service to the most people at the
busiest travel times of day. That happens to be for commutes during the traditional
workday hours. Off-peak service will be offered for those commuters requiring a mid-day
work commute or wishing to use the system for other reasons."

Principle 2 - Infrastructure plans should not compete with other public services (e.g.
education, health) and should be treated with equal importance with these other public
services: Most of the capital funding for the commuter rail project will come from the
Federal Transit Administration (50%) and the FDOT (25%), with the remaining 25%
coming from the four counties where commuter rail would run (Osceola, Orange,
Seminole and Volusia). The Federal and State money is already earmarked for
transportation projects so it was not redirected away from other public services. I was
unable to find information about the source of the local funding, although it is likely that
multiple departments in the affected counties, as well as the municipalities they
encompass, will be involved because of the widespread impact a commuter rail system
will have on the region. As far as operations and maintenance costs (O&M), this will be
funded entirely by the FDOT for the first 7 years, after which the local county
governments will pick up the bill. The funding information provided at the commuter rail
website is a little fuzzy in some areas, but it does state that "capital costs will be
reassessed during the design phase of project development" and "operations and
maintenance costs for the system are being evaluated."

Principle 3 - Budget priorities within infrastructure areas should be equitable: It appears

that funding for local transportation needs is divided between this commuter rail project,
highway construction and improvements, and the local bus system LYNX. The commuter
rail system is portrayed as the long-awaited solution to Central Florida's transportation
problems, problems that cannot be solved by added more lanes to Interstate-4 (the "main
artery" of Orlando) or building more toll roads for a circulator system around the city. I
agree that the commuter rail plan is a better solution than highway construction for two
reasons: 1) it will take drivers off of the highways and 2) increase bus ridership. While
taking drivers off of the highways will not likely decrease traffic (because more people
will inevitably move here and use them), commuter rail can be the beginning of a
workable solution to easing the flow of traffic in the region. LYNX will also benefit from
commuter rail because of the increased visibility of the bus system to commuters using
the rail. system. I believe these benefits to the highway and the bus systems will be much
greater than the benefits they would have received from redirecting commuter rail funds
to them.

Principle 4 - Services and opportunities arising from infrastructure plans should be

available and accessible to everyone: As mentioned before, communities located in
Orlando and its suburbs will benefit the most from commuter rail, with the benefits
decreasing the further out from Orlando you go. Within Orlando and suburbs, benefits
will be the greatest for residences and businesses within walking distance of the rail
stations because they will not have the added cost of gassing up their car to their
commute. Commuters who do not live near a station will need to park their cars in
designated lots near the stations and take the train the rest of the way to work. However,
because Orlando residents are used to driving nearly everywhere they go, this multimodal
method of transportation (car and train) should not be a difficult adjustment. This,
coupled with the fact that fare will be inexpensive ("possibly $2.50 within a county, $1
per additional county"), should ensure that everyone within the local area will be able to
afford to ride. Decisions about the siting of rail stations also took the needs of Central
Florida residents into account. For example, "because Florida Hospital, downtown
Orlando and Orlando Regional Medical Center receive thousands of visitors and
employees each day, stations have been planned for those places."

Principle 5 - Employment and economic benefits from an infrastructure decision should

be regional, as well as local: The commuter rail plan has not yet entered the construction
phase, which is when I would expect decisions about this to be made. Plans could have
been made in advance (and may still be) to ensure a certain percentage of the local
workforce is employed in construction, operations and maintenance jobs, or to ensure that
local businesses gets a percentage of the contracts, however I doubt this will happen.

Principle 6 - Financing of infrastructure plans should not disproportionately burden

those with lower incomes: Aside from federal and state taxes (which I assume are
equitable, and if they aren't then that is a whole other level of inequity that cannot be
addressed here), fare box revenue is the only other source of financing and this will be
used for pay for O&M costs. As I mentioned before, the fare may be around $2.50 for an
in county trip and $1 each extra county. Under these estimates, the total cost for a person
traveling the entire length of the system round-trip would be $11. If this person commutes
5 days a week to work this amounts to $55 a week. Depending on income, the cost of gas
(which is likely to keep rising I the long term), whether the person owns a car (which is
likely considering the lack of other transportation infrastructure in Central Florida), and
whether they make payments on that car, this may be a prohibitive cost to some lower-
income residents. However, overall, I think this is a reasonable cost and most people will
not be commuting through the entire four-county area anyway, making the total weekly
cost between $25 and $35. Hence, the proposed fare will not disproportionately affect
those with lower incomes.

Principle 7 - Infrastructure decision-making should be transparent and include

mechanisms for everyone to contribute to the planning and policy-making process: Part
of the plan for commuter rail involves an agreement between FDOT and CSX (the
company that owns the railroad tracks) to reroute freight traffic during certain times of
the day along CSX's "S"-Line, which runs through another part of the State. Newspaper
accounts of this decision and its effects on the mostly rural and small-town communities
indicate that these communities were not involved in the commuter rail decision-making
process. One editorial published in the Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala is one town that will
experience increased freight traffic because of the agreement) stated that "this project is
lamentably being driven by CSX, not the needs of the Ocala/Marion County citizenry"
and "absolutely no local input has been allowed or sought so far" (Ocala Star-Banner, 8
August 2006, "DOT, CSX bypass the public"; accessed 26 October 2006 from
www.ocala.com). The same article went so far as to claim that the discussions were "held
secretly between DOT and CSX officials". A reader commented in an editorial that
Orange County (where Orlando is located), as well as Ocala residents and officials, are
equally culpable in the outcome because locals did not speak up in opposition about the
plan that Orlando was pushing hard for. If they had spoken up, "nothing would have been
done for years (because of) political wrangling." The reader added that "Orlando did not
do this in secret. I read about it months back in the Orlando Sentinel" (Ocala Star-Banner,
"Local help", 11 August 2006; accessed 26 October 2006 from www.ocala.com.) It
appears that apathy about the plan may have been the attitude of some "local
transportation officials" who said "there is little they can do to stop the trains from
coming" (Ocala Star-Banner, "Oncoming trains", 2 December 2005; accessed 26 October
2006 from www.ocala.com.). While I could not verify the validity of the claims that the
State government and CSX excluded Ocala locals from the decision-making process,
other evidence indicates that CSX neither sought nor valued local input. One CSX
official was quoted as saying "Ocala is only concerned about its backyard but there are
statewide benefits." A FDOT spokesperson expressed a desire for "local input as to what
is the best design", but this only allows residents a voice into how local infrastructure will
be remodeled to accommodate the rerouted freight traffic, and does not allow them to
have a say in the rerouting proposal itself (Ocala Star-Banner, "Local officials critical of
FDOT secretary", accessed 26 October 2006 from www.ocala.com).