Posted on 02/07/2019 1:17:55 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Miami-Dade’s mayor flies to Tallahassee this week to fight a state takeover of local toll roads, and he says an early victim of the proposed legislation would likely be a planned extension of the 836 expressway into West Kendall.
“One of the major issues I have with that bill is the fact that it may stall that project for some time,” said Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who also serves as the appointed chairman of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. The toll board of state and county appointees, best known as the MDX, collects tolls on the 836 and four other expressways. “The people of West Dade need that relief now.”
The proposed 13-mile toll road through Miami-Dade’s western suburbs may end up a prime front in the fight over the MDX’s future, since the local lawmakers trying to dismantle the agency say they don’t want to hurt the planned highway, either.
Sen. Manny Diaz. Jr., R-Hialeah, rejected Gimenez’s assertion, demanding MDX prove it can’t afford to pay for the nearly $1 billion project by reworking its current financial and construction plans.
“We will continue to disagree until we have seen the total financials from MDX,” Diaz said Tuesday. “We have to see the facts.”
Diaz, Gimenez and Rep. Bryan Avila, the Hialeah Republican who sponsored the anti-MDX bill in the House, are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Tallahassee to discuss a possible compromise. “We’ve come up with our proposal,” Avila said. “At this point, the onus is on the MDX and its chairman to produce some sort of proposal on their end.”
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
TOLL FIGHT!
Carlos is fighting this because carlos and his fellow board members would be out of a job if the state took over the toll roads and dissolved the MBX.
Politicians love big construction projects for some reason. Maybe it would be tougher steal with the state in charge.
I was going to mention the MBX was crooked, but dont live there or have any evidence, but if true, then the mbx board is a money laundering scheme..
There are toll roads all over Florida. I remember looking at a map of Orlando while renting a car and the whole thing was partically tolls. One has to wonder where all the money is going.
an article in the Norfolk “Pilot” last year was that a bridge/causeway has been approved by the NC legislature to build from mainland Currituck County to Corrolla on the Outer Banks for a price just under one billion dollars, that billion with a “B.” They will pay for it with a toll of over $20.00. It’s primary need is for two days a week (Sat/Sun) during the Summer months. There are so many problems with this use of taxpayers money, I don’t know where to start.
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