FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — City officials in Fort Lauderdale are now saying a tunnel under the New River is the only option it will accept to upgrade the rail route through the city to accommodate a commuter rail operation, putting the city at odds with Broward County, which supports a less expensive bridge option.
In a paywalled article, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports city commissioners voted 3-2 at a Dec. 17 meeting to rescind an earlier motion that accepted the bridge option if a tunnel is too expensive. The city’s mayor, Dean Trantalis, has led opposition to a proposed 2.5-mile long bridge, saying it would divide the community and harm development. He was on the losing side of a 3-2 vote accepting the bridge option late last year [see “Fort Lauderdale commissioners narrowly vote to accept bridge …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 20, 2023].
But since then, one of the commissioners who voted for the bridge, Warren Sturman, lost his seat to Ben Sorensen, who said during his campaign that he would seek to overturn the earlier decision.
The estimated cost for the bridge is $500 million. Previously, it had been suggested a 3.5-mile tunnel would cost $3 billion; a Fort Lauderdale consultant now says the tunnel could be built for $880 million, while the county says the cost would be $1.5 billion. The hope of local officials is that the federal government will pay 50% of the cost, with the city and county splitting the remaining 50%.
Currently, a drawbridge on the Florida East Coast main line crosses the river, but the addition of Brightline trains on the route is an issue for marine traffic. The proposed bridge would have sufficient vertical clearance to eliminate the need for openings [see “Fort Lauderdale, county officials at odds …,” Oct. 30, 2023].
The new vote is raising concerns that the conflict between the city and county might keep the project from advancing, or at the least lead to delays that will increase the project cost.
County Commissioner Steve Geller told the Sun-Sentinel that he doubted the two sides could reach agreement: “The city seems pretty dug in and the county seems pretty dug in. I think we have a stalemate.” Broward Mayor Beam Furr told the paper, “All this delaying is making things more expensive. My hope is that we can come to a consensus on a bridge because that’s what I think we can afford.”
The bridge/tunnel question is connected to the proposed Broward Commuter Rail South, which would run from Fort Lauderdale to Aventura, Fla., where it would connect with Miami-Dade County’s planned Aventura-Miami commuter operation. The long-term version is for a system continuing another 60 miles north of Fort Lauderdale to Jupiter, Fla., the northernmost town in Palm Beach County.
Trantalis said he believes rail service is important, “but I would never compromise the quality of life in our community just to satisfy the needs of other communities.”
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