Tampa Bay has the dubious distinction of being the largest metro area in the country without any kind of local passenger rail service. So as our rush hour commutes crawl to a standstill, transportation planners are taking yet another shot at mass transit. The latest proposal might not include rail at all.
Bus Rapid Transit would use its own lanes on a rebuilt Howard Frankland Bridge, and parts of the median of Interstate 275. The rest of the 41-mile route would to use the Interstate's shoulder to skirt traffic jams.
The cost: around $455 million. That's four billion dollars cheaper than the projected cost of light rail. And although BRT could become a reality in five years, the new span of the bridge won't be done until the mid 2020's.
Read the complete article at http://news.wgcu.org/post/bus-rapid-transit-replaces-light-rail-eyes-transit-planners
