TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation has extended the deadline for negotiations with Brightline on a lease on its proposed Orlando-Tampa passenger route, which had been set for July 31.
In a July 19 letter to Brightline President Patrick Goddard, Brad Thoburn, the state DOT assistant secretary, strategic development, cited “significant progress” in negotiating terms use of the Central Florida Rail Corridor as part of the planned route. “Because of the progress to date … FDOT no longer believes a formal agreement is needed prior to July 31, 2021,” Thoburn wrote.
The extension comes after the Central Florida Expressway Authority voted at a July 20 meeting to indefinitely delay a decision to allow Brightline to build along the agency’s state road 417, the passenger operator’s preferred route to reach Walt Disney World.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that decision came as Universal Orlando, merchants in the International Drive tourism area, and residents of Hunter’s Creek push to reroute Brightline from its preferred corridor to one following State Road 528, another tollway, to the International Drive area, then along Interstate 4 to Disney World. That route, which would also take Brightline away from Hunter’s Creek, could cost an additional $294 million (the International Drive group’s estimate) to $700 million or more, according to a consultant hired by the expressway authority.
Share this article
