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The Pinellas County Project Advisory Committee on Monday formally adopted a proposal to build 24 miles of light rail transit connections between St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Pinellas Park and Gateway.
But the committee stopped short of calling for light rail as the preferred "regional connection across Tampa Bay."
St. Petersburg Councilman Jeff Danner pushed for the group to specify light rail as the preferred mass transit connection across the Bay.
“We are missing an opportunity to take the lead and we should encourage Hillsborough County to do the same,” he said.
Other members of the group said they wanted to wait until the Florida Department of Transportation completes its study of a new span of the Howard Frankland Bridge later this year.
“Bridge replacement alone doesn’t mean light rail is going to be built with it,” said Florida Department of Transportation District Secretary Don Skelton, a member of the advisory panel.
He suggested it was better to leave the connection across the Bay a little vague until more is determined about what happens on the Hillsborough side.
Building a light rail system in Pinellas could cost at least $72 million per mile, but the estimate does not include building across the Bay. The proposed system envisions 16 stations on the Pinellas side.
For the full article, visit the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
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