Central Florida has received a federal grant to fund transportation between Tampa to Orlando. The $15,875,000 in funding will go towards Central Florida’s Sunshine Corridor and Brightline’s proposed Tampa to Orlando intercity passenger rail project. The grant application received substantial community and bipartisan support. Many Floridians are excited about the idea of mass transportation between the two cities.
The Tampa to Orlando Rail
The grant award will support the preliminary engineering activities and environmental approvals required to construct an intercity passenger rail system. The activities will include completing 15 percent and 30 percent engineering design for a completely grade-separated, mostly double-tracked railway built within the right-of-way of the I-4 median and other existing transportation corridors.
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Brightline is currently operating between Miami and West Palm Beach and constructing an extension from West Palm Beach to Orlando. This line is expected to be complete at the end of 2022 and carry passengers in 2023. An extension to Tampa is the next step in connecting 70 percent of the state’s population by Brightline.
Central Florida is projected to experience significant growth in population, employment and tourism over the next decade. This will increase the demands and congestion on current roadways. Currently, travel between Tampa and Orlando is mainly by I-4, which recent studies identified as the deadliest road in America. Intercity passenger rail is a vital tool to help the state manage future growth under constrained conditions that limit the ability to expand highways.
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