State-of-the-art toll road: Florida's new Suncoast Parkway is designed for minimum impact on the environment and maximum use by nonmotorized traffic

Public Roads, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Raymond A. Ashe, Max D. Crumit, Kevin M. Hoeflich

One reason that Post asked to be assigned to the project was the unique approach it promised. "This was totally different from any of the projects I'd seen coming from the Florida DOT when I was with the Water Management District," Post says. "In the end, it turned out to be a truly productive process, one that helped us come up with the best-of-all-possible solutions instead of just the good-enough solutions."

Fourteen Agencies Sign On

With the first partnering meeting scheduled for November 1993, the project managers made another decision that proved crucial. They used a professional facilitator from the Florida DOT with no significant environmental background to lead the quarterly meetings and keep tabs on the process as it evolved. Following a 3-day seminar to familiarize everyone involved with the basics of how the group process would work, the participants produced a partnering agreement affirming each member's commitment "to work together in a spirit of trust and cooperation toward preserving the balance between Florida's environmental protection objectives and the State's transportation needs."

The signers of this document represented 14 entities including the toll agency, consultants, Federal and State agencies (the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwest Florida Water Management District, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission), and the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization founded to facilitate the purchase of private land for public ownership. Joining this group soon after the document was signed were representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The group quickly established priorities, identifying the Suncoast Parkway as a highway project that would be "environmentally engineered" to the greatest extent possible, meaning that environmental considerations would lead all other considerations in the design process. First consideration would be given to avoiding adverse effects where possible, with second consideration given to minimizing impact. As a last resort, mitigation strategies would offset adverse impacts that were either unavoidable or resistant to minimization.

A Plan from the Beginning

The process began with almost no hitches, as even the most skeptical participants not only approved of the content of the proceedings, but also appreciated the opportunity to have their concerns fully aired and considered. "Large, new roads are just not something we generally recommend," says Jim Beever, a biological scientist with the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, an agency that had aired strong objections during the project's early phases. "But you could really appreciate that both the DOT and the consultants were willing to listen to problems with the project design as we saw them, and that they were willing to enter into a real dialogue on how to address them."

Almost as soon as the dialogue got underway, the broad outlines of an overall strategy began to emerge. Acknowledging the project ultimately would result in significant impacts requiring mitigation, land available for use in mitigating adverse impacts was identified and two large parcels singled out.