Pasco MPO votes for quality of life for its residents but leaves Tampa with a cloud of bad air

May 11, 2016:
by Mauricio Rosas
Pasco County, FL - At an early morning public meeting, when most people are at work, Pasco's MPO wasted no time to approve the Tampa Bay Express (TBX) toll lanes. The leading supporter of the Tampa Bay Express (TBX) toll lanes and widening of I-275 in Pasco county is Commissioner Mike Moore of Wesley Chapel. He said, "the project would lessen commute times for Pasco motorists and enhance their quality of life." He fails to acknowledge the negative impact to Tampa's historic urban core, which will be adversely affected unlike Pasco County's suburbs.   They won't have their homes relocated or neighborhoods destroyed. On the contrary they'll have an entrance to a highway without them incurring any impact to their  suburban lifestyle. 

They'll jump on the expressway and travel through Tampa's historic district without a  care in the world. Their daily commute may cost an average of $15 to $20 a day but since they live in Pasco suburbs, I imagine they can afford it.  Meanwhile, Tampa's urban core is going to continue to struggle with the car centric lifestyle of suburbia.  And every time they come to events or work in and around  Tampa's downtown, the locals are stuck with the burden of congestion and transit paralysis. 

I bet, if those in Pasco County and Wesley Chapel were suddenly faced with extending I 275 through their neighborhood's they would be in an uproar.  However, unlike the Pasco  MPO, the residents of Pasco county would  most likely choose mass transportation to commute into the Tampa area but that solution is not on the table, most probably because it's not suitable to their suburban lifestyle.

At the end of the MPO meeting, Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority Director Ramond Chiaramonte remarked how TBX is a "critical project for our region."   Except that when he talks about the region, he's talking about the suburban areas who will not feel any negative impact to their communities. The impact they may feel will be their paychecks reduced from the expense of the toll  lanes. 

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