Plummeting revenue projections have forced the Florida Department of Transportation to cut $4.5 billion from its five-year-work since December 2007, a transportation official said Tuesday.

And more cuts are likely on the way.
"We call this a 'tentative' work plan because it is," FDOT District 3 Secretary Larry Kelly told about 20 people gathered at the department's Milton office. "To be honest, we're expecting further cuts before it's ready to send to the (Florida Legislature)."
The cuts include almost $140 million from District 3, which includes Santa Rosa and 15 other Northwest Florida counties.
State law requires the transportation budget not to exceed revenue projections, Kelly said. Several times each year, experts meet to update projections. Less revenue was forecast after each meeting in 2008.
Kelly spoke at a public hearing on the tentative work plan for budget years 2010-2014. FDOT planners reviewed funding additions, deletions and schedule changes for projects in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties. They planned to make similar presentations in Chipley and Midway - an incorporated community near Tallahassee - this week. FDOT officials will present the tentative work plan to the four transportation planning organizations in the district - the Florida-Alabama, Okaloosa-Walton and Bay County TPOs and the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency - before preparing a draft for the legislative session beginning in March.
The Florida-Alabama TPO's next meeting begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners Chambers, 221 Palafox Place, Pensacola. A public hearing on the 2010-2014 Tentative Five-Year Work Plan is the first item on the agenda.

 

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