There has been an avalanche of information reported on Florida's plans to build a high speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando, especially after the state received a down payment from the feds last month to begin construction.
But there is so much work still to be done. There will be 5 stops along the way from the Tampa proposed station to the last station in Orlando. Orlando will actually have three different stops, and there will also be a stop in Lakeland.
But where in Lakeland? That has yet to be decided, but may be in a few weeks time.
The Lakeland Ledger has an extensive report on a meeting yesterday that the Polk Transportation Planning Organization held to discuss the issue. It includes this gem of a line from the city's new mayor, Gow Fields:
"We have a plan right now that frankly sucks," Fields said.
Actually, Fields issued a letter out earlier this week about the different locations being discussed, and he expressed a little pique about how the media has covered that. (You can read that here).
One of the possible site's in play is the USF Poly campus, but Mayor Fields said getting transit to the USF Poly site will depend on whether Polk citizens approve a half cent sales tax referendum in November to fund countywide transit.
(Yes, that's right, Hillsborough doesn't have dibs in the Tampa Bay area on having a transportation tax on the ballot this fall).
We're extremely intrigued on this story, and hope to keep following it in the future.
