The Trouble With Florida’s Toll Roads

Leadership difficulties have distracted many of the state’s expressway authorities, but construction activity continues.

By Debra Wood

Plagued by a tumultuous year of audits, investigations and leadership turnover, some of Florida’s expressway authorities are under scrutiny like never before, and their public credibility is being questioned.

In Tampa and Orlando, for example, the problems became so severe that audits of each entity have resulted, and a potential criminal investigation of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority is under way.

In Miami, meanwhile, the agency has had some difficulty finding a new leader.

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Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority

The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority has suffered some serious setbacks and leadership challenges during the past few years. Former Executive Director Ralph Mervine resigned abruptly in November after the media shed light on his side business, Coast Productions, which produced gay pornographic films.

The following month, the State Auditor General’s Office released its operational audit of the agency for the period July 1, 2005, through Sept. 30, 2006. The auditor general began the study after objection to a process for selecting general counsel.

The auditor general found several concerns dealing with finances; separation of duties; access to its computerized accounting system; lack of updating of policies, procedures and job descriptions; severance packages; lack of documentation on several issues, including lobbying; outsourcing communication services without a cost-benefit analysis; and that the authority appointed as temporary interim director someone who also served as vice president of a corporation with which the authority had an ongoing contract.

Some members of the media and other leaders had suggested disbanding the agency, but Stephen L. Reich, the new executive director appointed in January, says that has calmed down, and at a recent meeting with the Tampa legislative delegation, it was not brought up. Disbanding could prove difficult, since the authority has debt obligations.

At its January meeting, the authority board elected former State Sen. James T. Hargrett, Jr. chairman and Reich executive director. Reich came from the University of South Florida Center for Urban Transportation Research, where he managed a university program providing public transportation agencies with technical assistance and research about programming, financing and toll facility management. He had worked for an automotive safety supplier, and from 1993 to 1997, he served as executive secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority.

The board also accepted the recommendations of the auditor general. Actions include separating chief financial officer and accountant duties to strengthen controls, ceasing use of outside lobbying services, updating policies and procedures, adopting employee position descriptions, establishing parameters for determining cost efficiencies and conducting a review of legal functions of outside general counsel and in-house legal affairs director. 

“We’ve turned the corner in trying to build the foundation for rebuilding the public trust, but it’s going to be a long road,” Reich says. “We have to demonstrate every day that this is not some temporary reaction but a long-term change in the way the agency is going to do business.”

To rebuild trust, the authority is opening its actions to great transparency, scheduling face-to-face meetings with member governments and community groups, and implementing tighter financial control.

Jim Drapp, HNTB’s Tampa office leader and project manager for the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority, places much of the responsibility for the authority’s difficulties on the 2004 collapse of a portion of an elevated reversible-lanes bridge on the Leroy Selmon Crosstown Expressway and the related aftermath. The road is open, but the parties involved remain in litigation. 

“Part of the cause of the problems was the emphasis that was placed on getting construction on track and completing construction after the problems we had with the pier remediation and repair when the bridge came down,” Drapp says. “There was not enough attention paid to policies and procedures and the operations side.”

Mervine, formerly director of the Florida Department of Transportation’s district one, had been brought in to replace the previous director, Patrick McCue, who was fired in the wake of problems with the construction of the new reversible-lanes bridge.

Moving forward, the authority planned to resume evaluations of proposals for a public-private partnership to build the 3.3-mi North Tampa East West Road. The city of Tampa has completed preliminary engineering and the authority is collaborating on ways to build it.

Two teams, OHL of Spain and Plenary Group of Canada, have submitted proposals to design, build and possibly maintain the road. The elevated road would pass through environmentally sensitive areas and is projected to cost $140 million to build.

Also in the works is a partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation to connect the Leroy Selmon with Interstate 4, allowing trucks to bypass historic Ybor City. Reich says FDOT has completed about 60% of the design and is looking to start construction in 2009 or 2010.

“We are trying to stabilize the agency,” Reich adds. “We are constantly on the lookout in Tampa and Hillsborough County for potential opportunities that make financial sense from a user-financing perspective. We are actively trying to identify the next place a toll road will be an answer to part of the regional solution.”

Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority

Meanwhile, the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority has lived through a rough six months, and the worst may still be ahead. It began when a criminal investigation of political consultant and toll foe Doug Guetzloe turned up payments of $107,500 from the authority’s marketing agency Pecora & Blexrud of Winter Park, Fla., to Guetzloe’s Advantage Consultants. Allan E. Keen, the board’s former chairman, admitted he solicited, without board approval, Guetzloe’s firm to “strategically engage the opposition.”

The authority has seriously been considering raising its tolls to fund new construction. Keen had supported a toll rate increase but given the controversy, the expressway authority held off. The board directed staff in November to look into focus groups as an initial public involvement step, says spokesperson Mary Brooks.

“The expressway authority has no plans for a toll increase in the foreseeable future,” says Brooks in an e-mail response. “Staff is reviewing the focus group material received and will move forward at the direction of the board.”

The agency terminated the contract with Pecora & Blexrud, and Ron Pecora made allegations of purchasing theme park tickets for Keen and not being reimbursed. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s office began investigating billing improprieties, and Orange County Comptroller Martha Haynie started a thorough audit of the authority.

On Jan. 4, Keen resigned from the expressway authority board, citing the need to aggressively deal with Pecora’s “false allegations” without affecting the authority’s ability to function. Less than two weeks later, Randy Means, director of investigations for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, confirmed that his office was conducting an investigating into possible criminal actions related to land purchases, which could include insider trading and profit making related to road alignments or projections of road locations.

“We don’t believe there is anything wrong in what we have done, and we have cooperated fully,” says Mike Snyder, the authority’s executive director.. “We have the utmost confidence everything is fine.”

Means expects to complete the investigation this summer. Media coverage persists, with new information regularly surfacing in the local newspaper.

Snyder says he will make recommendations to the board to bring in an internal auditor to review contracts and spot check that contracts are administered properly “to absolutely ensure things are the way they are supposed to be.” The authority also will rebid long-term contracts for general counsel, engineering and right-of-way counsel.

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist appointed Harvey L. Massey to fill one of two vacancies on the board. The expressway authority board elected member Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty chairman.

The authority’s plans for $1.1 billion in new construction projects during the next five years are progressing. OOCEA has $580 million in work under contract for 30 projects, including high-speed toll plazas with express lanes, widening of State Road 408 and extending Maitland Boulevard, SR 414.

“It has not affected our ability to function,” Snyder says. “We have not missed a beat on any projects.”

Ranger Construction Industries of Winter Garden, Fla., received the $105 million contract for the first phase of the $425 million John Land Apopka Expressway, an elevated road connecting Maitland Boulevard with SR 429, the Western Expressway. Work began in January, and the segment is scheduled to open in 2009.

Hubbard Construction Co. of Orlando was scheduled to complete at the end of February a $73.9 million widening of SR 408, the East-West Expressway.

Lane Construction Corp. of Meriden, Conn., is expected to finish the $62 million first-section widening of the East-West Expressway in July. Lane began construction in October on another $125.1 million segment of the widening, which is scheduled for completion in October 2009. 

Snyder says one section of the SR 408 improvements has been delayed to accommodate a redesign to bring down costs. He adds that he expects to seek contractor bids in April.

Miami-Dade Expressway Authority

In January, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority’s Board of Directors selected Javier Rodriguez, a district director of transportation development at FDOT, where he supervised a staff of 154, to replace retiring Executive Director Servando M. Parapar. Rodriguez was set to start March 2, with Parapar staying on until March 21.

Parapar had retired last year, but he agreed to stay on after the board’s first pick to replace him turned down the job.

MDX continued working on several projects to improve mobility within the county. Community Asphalt Corp. of Hialeah, Fla., is wrapping up construction of a $160 million, 2.5-mi, four-lane extension of State Road 836 (the Dolphin Expressway) to serve residents in the western portions of the county. The project included turning a former dirt road into a six-lane cross street to provide access to the toll road.

MDX expects Condotte America of Miami to start construction this spring on a $32.1 million Kendall Road ramp to northbound SR 874, the Don Shula Expressway. The project is slated for a 2009 completion.

By late summer, the authority anticipates selecting a contractor to build a $100 million improvement to the Killian interchange with SR 874, scheduled to come on line in 2010.

Also by 2010, MDX plans to convert SR 874 to completely electronic toll collection. Currently 70% of drivers use the FDOT’s SunPass during peak hours.

Alfred Lurigados, MDX director of engineering, says that will increase to more than 80% by 2010. MDX noted a 10% increase in SunPass use after introducing high-speed tolling. The authority is investigating video tolling using license plates for people without SunPass.

Lurigados says high-speed tolling improves traffic flow and safety. When cars must slow down at toll plazas, between 800 and 900 cars can pass through per hour, but with high-speed tolling that increases to 2,200 cars per hour.

Useful Sources

Tampa Toll Authority Moving Ahead Despite Latest Troubles
http://southeast.construction.com/news/florida/archive/0612.asp

Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority
www.tampa-xway.com

Orange-Orange County Expressway Authority
http://www.oocea.com

Miami-Dade Expressway Authority
www.mdx-way.com

Florida Expressway Chairman Resigns Following Allegations of Impropriety
http://enr.ecnext.com/free-scripts/comsite2.pl?page=enr_document&article=netrar070110

Dubious Deals Launch Florida Road Probe
http://enr.ecnext.com/free-scripts/comsite2.pl?page=enr_document&article=netrar070119