Alligator Alley runs 78 miles connecting the southwestern and southeastern coastal areas. I traveled on it when it was just a one way road in each direction, back when Florida was still “undiscovered, well almost. Many fatal accidents happened on it as there were no rest stops and nothing much to look at other than Florida sawgrass and scrub palms. Drivers, particularly truckers, got bored and fell asleep too many times. I never saw an alligator, not even once.
Later, DOT widened the road to four lanes paying for the project with a Revenue Bond of $17 mil in 1964. I believe that it was called Everglades Parkway back then. Later, in 1997, The Department of Transportation State of Florida sold $55.2 mil in Revenue Bonds for replacement of toll plazas and other improvements.
During the fiscal year 2007, approximately 8.3 million toll transactions on Alligator Alley produced approximately $23.5 million in revenues. Operations and maintenance costs for that same period were approximately $6.1 million.
Florida Department of Transportation officials said they are examining a 50 to 75-year lease for Alligator Alley. Right now, we have companies in Spain, Portugal, Australia, Brazil as well as global consortiums who will bid on leasing Alligator Alley.Gary Eidson, chairman of the Collier Citizens Transportation Coalition, fears that any deal to lease the alley would come close to a give-away. “There’s too much documentation to show that these deals go together bad,” Eidson said. “They’re undervalued when they’re purchased, particularly when leased to a private entity. And (the leases) run too long.”
As an alternate means of raising revenue, with no defined purpose, by Gov Crist, the State is using the same argument that we heard from the City of Lake Worth on our beach. “At the end of the day, we will still own it.” They were supposed to bid on it on January 12 but now because of the global economic downturn the potential Lessees want to postpone the bidding until May 2009.
I say, let’s lease it to the State of Florida. Florida investing in Florida. Is that novel, or what?
