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From the Ocala Star Banner

Viewpoints collide at SR 40 meeting

Published 02/26/2005 © Ocala Star Banner

OCALA - The claws came out on Friday as the environmentalists and road
planners on the State Road 40 Collaborative Task Force began discussing the first draft of the committee's final report.

Jennifer McMurtray, with transportation and wildlife coordinator for the Defenders of Wildlife, expressed her displeasure at what, she said, was scant reference to the ecological system through which the road runs.

"It's over a half million acres of land," McMurtray said. "There's a minimum of information at the beginning of the report." She said the background information lies at the back of the report.

The task force first met Oct. 1, 2003 to determine what, if anything, could be done to mesh environmental concerns with transportation needs along SR 40 from Silver Springs east to U.S. 17, an area that includes the Ocala National Forest and other environmentally sensitive public lands. The Task Force's
final report is expected to be completed May 2.

McMurtray said the background information about the ecological importance of the forest was at the back of the report.

The state Department of Transportation is trying to determine whether it can get support from the environmental community to widen the two-lane roadway, which is part of the Florida Interstate Highway System and the state's Strategic Intermodal System.

What the task force is considering is four-laning the road from Silver Springs to Forest Corners and turning the remaining two lanes through the Ocala National Forest into a scenic byway.

C. Allan Watts of 1,000 Friends of Florida found fault with the draft's first sentence.

"I don't know everybody agrees it's an important east/west corridor, but that it is an important emerging corridor," Watts said.

Greg Slay, of the Ocala/Marion County Transportation Planning Organization, took exception to that.

"There's no other straight shot in the middle of the state," Slay said. "I don't consider it an emerging corridor."

Lennon Moore, of the District 5 Department of Transportation, said the department has looked at other options, but there are no other direct routes.

But, like Watts, Charles Lee, of Audubon of Florida, was concerned that the roadway is described as a "major" corridor. He said figures presented to the task force in the past showed that most trips on the road were local trips, and there were only a small number of trips from Interstate 75 to Interstate 95. He said he thinks of Interstate 4 as a major roadway.

"I think we need to tone this down and balance this against the rest of the report," Lee said.

McMurtray said there are less than 1,000 truck trips a day and about 7,000 car trips a day.

"I feel putting this on SIS (Florida's Strategic Intermodal System) you are trying to put a square peg in a round hole," McMurtray said. "We should not be funneling people into this area."

Slay disagreed.

"There are two rapidly growing urban areas at both ends of this corridor," he said. "As time goes on, I think the numbers are there."

Lee said that capacity should be constrained to protect the forest and public land.

The tone of the meeting at times had hard edges.

Lee said that what is happening in the background of their discussions is that the position of FDOT is shifting. He said the direction of the meeting was different under the former District 5 Secretary Mike Snyder, who, he said, did not want to four-lane the road. George Gilhooley recently took over that position. He was not at Friday's meeting.

"That may be the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about," Lee said. "If that's no longer true in terms of where the department is heading . . . we ought to get it on the table rather than dealing with it on implication." He said if FDOT wants to four-lane the entire study area, then the task force should make recommendations for how that four-laning should be done, rather than putting forth a report calling for two lanes that may change in the future.

Moore said her perception is that both competing interests wanted to see balance.

"In neither case was it a guarantee in perpetuity that the road could never be four-laned," Moore said.

But regardless of what anyone at the table can envision, The final decision lies with the USDA Forest Service, which owns the right-of-way and land on which the road sits.

"The Ocala National Forest will be in perpetuity based on the idea that the United States of America will be in perpetuity," said Rick Lint of the U.S. Forest Service. "As long as there's a United States of America, there will be a National Forest."

At a break in the meeting Lint said that the Task Force's conceptual design of turning SR 40 into a two-lane scenic byway through the forest is one that has met with a lot of agreement. He said, based on what is known about the damage to wildlife and the need to have controlled burns and smoke management, four lanes would not meet those concerns.

"We have responsibility to manage for some kind of natural setting, not a racetrack," Lint said.

FDOT's Moore said she believes common ground can be found.

"Our plans will depend upon the type of development that occurs on each end," Moore said. "In transportation, one of our charges is to respond to changing conditions and what the public needs." She said not only black bears, but people are being killed on the roadway. And she said the Forest Service is supposed to allow for multi-use of the land.

Lee told the Task Force that he wanted to make it clear that if the state were to try to four-lane the road through the forest it would meet strong resistance from national environmental organizations.

Moore said that most of the Central Florida legislative delegation would support 4-laning the roadway, which is part of the federal highway system, tomorrow.

After the meeting McMurtray said there is no memorandum of understanding between the USFS and the DOT about what would be permitted.

"That's something that could have permanence," she said about the Task Force's conceptual plan.

The Task Force's next meeting is March 14, and details will be posted at www.sr40.org.

Susan Latham Carr may be reached at 867-4156 or susan.carr@starbanner.com.