Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding several projects of importance to the 4th District of Florida.

The first funding request is $12 million for Mass Transit Studies and Right-of-Way
Acquisition in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has
developed short and long-range plans for the development of a rapid transit system.
Toward that effort, the JTA has identified four potential transportation corridors. These
corridors have also been identified in the Metropolitan Planning Organization's Long Range
Transportation Plan for the region. Funding for alternatives analysis and preliminary
engineering is authorized by TEA-21.

The initial funding would be used for right-of-way acquisition and necessary studies
including an Environmental Impact Statement on each of the four corridors identified. This
is an extremely important project for the City of Jacksonville which faces tremendous
growth and increasing traffic congestion.

The second request is for $5.0 million under the FTA Bus and Bus-related Facilities program for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. Of these funds $2.5 million will be used for the purchase of nine (9) new buses. The other $2.5 million is for the Regency Transit Hub Station which is part of JTA's long range plan for development of mini transit centers to be located in our fast growing suburban communities. These centers will be designed with Park and Ride facilities, bike amenities, passenger information and customer waiting areas for bus-to-bus transfer and express commuter services.

My third request is $2.5 million for the Daytona Intermodal Center in Volusia County, Florida and the purchase of vehicles to service the facility. The intermodal center will provide working residents and over eight million annual visitors with a centrally located hub that integrates public and private services. The facility will be located in the core Daytona Beach redevelopment district and will be the nucleus for a number of private redevelopment projects totaling over $150 million.

The intermodal center also contributes to the resoution of key environmental and safety matters. A federal court established a 30-foot conservation zone along county beaches to protect nesting sea turtles under the Endangered Species Act. The federal order enforced strict driving and parking limitations that resulted in significant increases in vehicular traffic along major road arteries and through neighboring residential areas.

Last year, the Volusia County MPO adopted a resolution in support of the intermodal center. Also, the Florida Department of Transportation has selected it as an intermodal development project and it has been incorporated into the state's five-year work program.

Additionally, TEA-21 authorized $2.5 million in Fiscal Year 1999 and $2.5 million in Fiscal Year 2000 for this important project. $2.5 million was appropriated last year pursuant to this authorization.

The fourth request is $1 million for the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems in Northeast Florida. The Florida Department of Transportation plans to implement a traffic control system on I-95 north of the Fuller Warren Bridge which is currently under construction. Moreover, the City of Jacksonville will be developing a traffic signal timing plan for the downtown area and is exploring additional opportunities for closed loop traffic signal systems, overhead message boards, and video detection surveillance imaging. Funding would be used to augment state and local efforts to integrate intelligent systems and maximize the potential use of existing roadways.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to testify today and I look forward to working with you on these important projects.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1999.

CENTRAL FLORIDA PROJECTS

WITNESSES

HON. JOHN MICA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA

MAYOR GLENDA HOOD (ORLANDO, FL)

Mr. MICA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

First, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and your staff, and other members of the committee, for your support in the past for our Central Florida projects. I am back again today to request funds for our light rail system; also for our bus system, and I am going to let our chairman of our Regional Transit Authority detail those requests.

Let me just say that Central Florida is, like many other communities, locked in traffic-gridlock-and I know the demands on this committee are tremendous. But I think even the Federal Government and Federal Highway Administration have identified Central Florida and our light rail project as one of the most 10 importantI think 7th in the Nation.

This project also has great participation of the Federal Government, the State government, local government, and the private sector-good participation from all levels. And with the 43,000 cars we had just last year-new cars in Central Florida. We are again drowning in our own traffic problems.

With those preliminary comments, I am going to yield to our chairman of our transit authority, Glenda Hood, who also is the mayor of the City of Orlando, and she will make our presentation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. HOOD. Thank you, Congressman, and good morning, Chairman Wolf and members of the committee.

I am pleased to be here to be able to share a little bit more detail, wearing the hat as chairman of our Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority. And we are known as Lynx in our region, and we serve more than 1.4 million residents in Orange, Seminole, and Osceloa counties with a variety of services.

I always appreciate the opportunity to come before you, but I want to talk in particular this morning about high priority capital projects in Central Florida, and the requests that we have. And I want to say the Florida Department of Transportation is very strongly in support of these requests as well, from a policy and financial standpoint. And I want to give you a little bit of background as far as what's transpired in the last year since we appeared before you, as far as some of the growth, some of the happenings with our transportation issues.

We continue, as Congressman Mica said, to be the fastest-growing community in America, and with growth of course traffic comes. Forty-three thousand vehicles were registered in Central Florida this past year alone, so that's an indication of what's happening; 40 million tourists have visited our community. And that shows you the kind of destination that we are. But that means with more and more people we do have more and more transportation needs, obviously.

During the last year we have made some very significant strides in responding to our growing transportation needs. In February the Florida Department of Transportation supported Draft Environmental Impact Study was completed, and the locally preferred alternative for 16.3-mile light rail system was selected. And that project has been advanced to the final impact statement, and the project has been declared environmentally to be able to move forward to final design in right-of-way acquisition.

This is only possible because of the support that has been provided by Congress, and we truly appreciate that over the past three years. And since we last spoke with you, and with your continued support of course, we have continued to see phenomenal growth with our Lynx Regional Transportation System.

In 1991 we carried 8.1 million passengers, and with double digit ridership growth each year Lynx now will exceed 20 million annual passengers. So you can see what is happening just on our bus side. We have also been able to, with your support, add buses, and services, enhance our passenger facilities. And as a result of our success we have been honored twice in the last 3 years as American Public Transit Association's Transportation System of the Year; and we feel that this is very significant. But we have to maintain that momentum.

And we are very pleased, as Congressman Mica said, to have been selected by the administration as one of the top seven projects in the United States for our light rail project. We are the only New Start project in that seven. And I think that is very significant, and recognizes what our needs are.

What we are requesting is a total of $110.5 million from the Section 3 New Starts Program; $41 million from the Bus And Bus Facilities account; and $24 million for intermodal project.

And I will just briefly touch on these. Our light rail project is very unique. I know that you have details of that. We are seeking only 55 percent of funding from the Federal Government on this light rail project. And the remaining cost of the project will come from local sources.

We have local partners in the form of the State of Florida; Orange County Government; our Orange County Convention Center; our International Drive business district; Čity of Orlando; our downtown business district. And we have all agreed that we will work together as funding partners to move this project forward.

Further, operations and maintenance costs for the system will be paid from farebox revenue, as well as contributions from the State of Florida, City of Orlando, and Orange County. And a first for any comparable system that we can find, is the fact that we also have a private sector funding partner with Universal Studios Escape.

Now this year, by the end of this Fiscal Year 1999, we will have taken those '98-99 dollars with obligations toward completing our final design; beginning right-of-way acquisition; acquiring land for the art and shop; beginning utility construction and utility relocation; and ordering our vehicles for our light rail system.

The project is very critical for future transportation needs in Central Florida, and I know you recognize that, to ensure continued economic growth and development of America's favorite destination.

Transit coaches. We need to purchase 30 new coaches. The Federal funding request for this is $9 million. New operating facility. We have acquired a 24-acre site. We need to move forward with design, engineering, and construction, and those funds that we need to be able to allow us to proceed equals $28 million.

We need to make sure that we are able to put that intermodal station in place. We have regional land use activity centers, as we call them, that has been designated as intermodal terminals. Lynx in the City of Orlando in fact have acquired the downtown Orlando intermodal facility with State funds, and we plan to request interest for joint development in Fiscal year 1999.

And the plan for fiscal year 2000 is to finalize our engineering, begin construction for this facility, and the request is $24 million. As you can see, we have achieved a lot in the past years, but it has been because of the help of our local partners, all of you with your generosity. And I would just ask that you continue to support us in our endeavors. We have a successful partnership that moves goods and people. We want to make sure that that continues for our economic vitality. And I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you this morning, Chairman Wolf.

[The prepared statement of Glenda Hood follows:]