Critics doubt a tunnel for commuter rail will ever get built in Fort Lauderdale\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor John Herbst is one of them \u2014 and he thinks it\u2019s high time for Fort Lauderdale to finally give up its fight to get a tunnel built at the New River.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a zombie project,\u201d Herbst said during a recent commission discussion. \u201cI don\u2019t understand the purpose of continuing to drag this thing along. Put a stake in it, call it dead and be done with it. I think commuter rail for the foreseeable future in South Florida is just not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, Fort Lauderdale has locked horns<\/a> with Broward County over whether to build a tunnel or bridge.<\/p>\n According to a consultant hired by Fort Lauderdale, a 1.1-mile twin-bore train tunnel would cost around $888 million. A bridge, according to the county, would cost $500 million.<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis has argued a bridge would destroy downtown<\/a>. But county officials have said all along<\/a> they prefer a less expensive bridge.<\/p>\n Currently, freight trains and Brightline passenger trains rely on a single-leaf bascule drawbridge to cross the New River. Built in 1978, the bridge frequently remains in the open position for marine traffic, closing only for freight and Brightline trains.<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale was given a Feb. 13 deadline by the county to complete a feasibility and cost study for a tunnel.<\/p>\n During a recent City Hall meeting, commissioners were told by staff that tunnel builders cannot give a true estimate of cost without using tunnel boring machines to conduct a costly geotechnical survey, also known as a subsurface investigation.<\/p>\n So far no company has come forward with an unsolicited proposal to do that work.<\/p>\n And none will, Herbst told the commission.<\/p>\n Herbst argued that tunnel industry experts know the project is going nowhere because there\u2019s no money for it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to fund it,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cThe county is not going to fund it. The state is not going to fund it. And the feds are not going to fund it.\u201d<\/p>\n Herbst summed up the reasons for his skepticism, saying that Brightline is in financial trouble, the state is defunding Tri-Rail and the Trump administration would rather spend money on highways than trains.<\/p>\n Herbst pointed to yet another roadblock: Florida East Coast Railway, the company that owns the tracks, filed a lawsuit against Brightline in July alleging breach of contract. The lawsuit is currently on a temporary hold as the two parties recently entered into arbitration<\/a>.<\/p>\n