Despite uncertainty over future funding, the Florida Dept. of Transportation is banking on low bids and private-sector financing as it accelerates an estimated $1.2 billion in projects in an effort to boost the state's stagnant jobs situation. At the same time, the agency is rolling out a plan to aggressively expand the use of tolls to add capacity throughout the state’s network of interstate highways and major bridges.
Calling the stream of revenue derived from gas taxes “not sustainable,” Florida Secretary of Transportation Ananth Prasad announced the plan before a gathering of the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association in Naples, noting, “We must identify creative financing alternatives to get more projects through the production pipeline.”