Letter to Rick Scott, Gvernor of the State of Florida - Place Conditions on State Support for All Aboard Florida

Letter

Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Dear Governor Scott,

As Floridians learn more about the proposed All Aboard Florida (AAF) passenger rail project, the more concerned they become that it will negatively affect their daily lives. As their elected officials, it is our duty to preserve and defend the safety, economy, and livability of Florida's communities. While AAF may boost tourism and business in Florida's biggest cities, it also threatens to delay emergency vehicles, create traffic jams, raise noise pollution, and block waterways along hundreds of miles of tracks. Furthermore it could force Florida towns and cities on already-tight budgets to foot the bill for quiet crossings and future maintenance.

With the recent announcement that the State of Florida will contribute over $200 million to AAF to construct an Automated People Mover serving AAF's proposed Orlando station, I urge you to properly weigh the project's detrimental effects to our citizens against the potential benefits to its private owners. Before using taxpayer dollars to subsidize this portion of AAF, I hope we can work together to ensure that any of the project's potential harms are minimized as much as possible. To begin with, our affected counties desperately need you to accept the $10 million that the Florida Senate has budgeted toward the construction of quiet zones. Furthermore, as a precondition to any grant, the State should require AAF to work with municipalities, counties, and other businesses to:

1) Install safety equipment necessary to exceed Florida Department of Transportation's minimum safety standards and instead meet the heightened standards set by the Federal Railroad Administration's guidelines;

2) Share financial responsibility for quiet zones and ongoing maintenance at grade crossings in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast;

3) Share financial responsibility for bridge upgrades to speed the raising and lowering of drawbridges, and widen bridge pilings to allow two-way boat traffic to pass;

4) Structure the new AAF train schedule to avoid significantly delaying emergency vehicles at grade crossings, worsening surrounding road traffic, and unduly congesting our waterways by blocking maritime traffic at drawbridges;

5) Move freight traffic from the FECI railroad to the adjacent CSX line before AAF passenger service begins to balance the number of trains on the FECI line and to prevent the time that waterways and roads are blocked;

6) Demonstrate that AAF's passenger service is financially viable in and of itself to ensure that state grant money not go to waste;

If this project is to proceed, it is critical that the State of Florida do everything in its power to guarantee that its citizens are unharmed. I know that if we come together on this, we can meaningfully preserve the safety and livelihood of our fellow Floridians.

Sincerely,

Patrick E. Murphy
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

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