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Agency votes to cut toll road
Tallahassee Democrat, 9/18/2007
View article on Tallahassee Democrat
By Bruce Ritchie, Democrat Staff Writer
A regional transportation agency voted Monday to kill a proposed toll-road through eastern Leon and Wakulla counties.
The Red Hills-Coastal Parkway faced opposition from state and federal environmental agencies that said the project wasn't needed and would harm wildlife habitat and waterways in the region. The Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency, which proposed the project in 2005 as part of a 25-year projects list, unanimously voted to remove it from the plan Monday. 'To invest in a project that would encourage more sprawl and increase energy use seems to fly in the face of the reality that we have in this country,' Commissioner Bob Rackleff said.
The agency, which includes elected officials from Gadsden, Leon and Wakulla counties, voted in June to kill the toll-road project, but a public hearing was required first, said Harry Reed, the agency's executive director.
No one spoke at the hearing when it was held in August. The project was placed on the list with little public discussion in 2005. The road would have extended from Thomasville Road near Bradfordville around the east of Tallahassee to U.S. Highway 98 near Newport.
Agency officials said in a memo that killing the project would increase traffic congestion on surrounding roads including Capital Circle, Woodville Highway and Thomasville Road.
Also Monday, the agency agreed to move a portion of Woodville Highway down on a priority list of road-widening projects in the area and move up a portion of Pensacola Street. The proposal was approved 41-40 in a weighted vote that favored Tallahassee city commissioners who opposed the Woodville Highway widening.
City Commissioner Mark Mustian said the highway widening would encourage urban sprawl in Woodville and Wakulla County. But Wakulla County Commissioner Ed Brimner said it would reduce congestion and improve the quality of life for residents in Leon and Wakulla counties. |
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