TAMPA BAY: A special lawmaking session on high-speed and commuter rail inched closer Monday as legislative leaders and the governor said they were ready to tap surplus money, about $76 million over the next two years, in the transportation budget rather than raise taxes on rental cars to help pay for the transit projects.
Also Monday, opposition to Central Florida’s SunRail project started to thaw in the Florida Senate, where the transit system could be one vote shy of winning passage, according to a Times/Herald vote count.
SunRail is the new name for the proposed 61.5 mile Central Florida Commuter Rail project, which will link Volusia, Seminole, Orange, and Osceola counties with a new mass transit option beginning in 2011.
