Bridge? tunnel? The debate rages on | Letters to the editor

Change is absurdly difficult for so many people.

There’s such resistance — especially from elders. Let’s step into the 21st century and proceed with a tunnel under the New River in Fort Lauderdale. Dissecting theories and exaggerating costs only complicates matters. We simply must grab at the gold ring. Opportunity rarely knocks twice.

Richie Baptista, Fort Lauderdale

Put it to the voters

What an excellent column by Steve Bousquet on the dilemma that Fort Lauderdale residents faced in 1956 when the debate ensued over what would become the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel. Let’s use history to learn. Cut out all the rhetoric from politicians, lobbyists, developers and a few residents, and see what those who really matter want.

Put the tunnel-versus-bridge question to voters in November, at very little extra cost, and follow their decision. It apparently worked in 1956; it can work in 2024. The real question is whether politicians are comfortable loosening up the stranglehold they have over our tax dollars.

Howard A. Tescher, Fort Lauderdale

Of noise, cost and empty seats

As a retired Boca Raton homeowner who has lived alongside the FEC railroad tracks for more than 21 years, I have thoughts on the bridge-tunnel debate in Fort Lauderdale.

FEC freight trains are longer and heavier than ever. My whole house shakes, day and night. I feel that no new infrastructure, whether 40 feet in the air or 40 feet underground, would tolerate the vibrations of these trains. Bear in mind, I have no skin in the game as far as which project looks or works better or costs less.

What I have is a common-sense approach that most people may not see, because politicians are not explaining this.

I understand that a tunnel would only be used by Brightline trains, not FEC trains. From what I understand, the existing bridge that handles heavy freight trains will stay in use, even if a new higher bridge is built. If not, the astronomical cost of a tunnel as opposed to a bridge would only benefit Brightline, and to me, it’s a project killer. Brightline has yet to be profitable and is absorbing federal funding to guarantee its future existence.

Taxpayers, think twice before bonding an underground tunnel at a phenomenal cost that would chiefly benefit Brightline. Living on Old Dixie Highway, watching Brightline trains go by day and night, gives me a perspective. I called B.S. on that. As I watch trains go by, I never see passengers in the windows. We call them ghost trains.

History repeats itself. Look back to the 1960s when train stations in small towns closed up and down Florida’s coast. Let’s not make the same mistake again.

Jay Shapp, Boca Raton 

Editor’s note: It is accurate that Brightline would use the proposed bridge or tunnel while freight would still run on the old bridge. But the new tunnel or bridge would also be used by a proposed commuter rail service. 

Two referendums needed

City Commissioner John Herbst said a yes-or-no referendum question on the tunnel should ask voters to support the city’s share of the cost. The city’s share?

What if the county takes the position that the difference between the cost of a bridge and tunnel would fall to the city if the city wants a tunnel? That may be an enormous number. Once we know the city’s share, a citywide referendum seems appropriate.

A proposed commuter rail system should be subject to a countywide referendum. Whether it’s a bridge or tunnel doesn’t change the fact that costs of capital, operation and maintenance will be enormous, with no guarantee that the car-loving public will turn out in significant enough numbers to make the system financially viable.

The last thing we need is a white elephant tunnel.

Also, how will everyone east of U.S. 1 or west of I-95 feel about having a “county” rail system that only runs through cities along the FEC corridor? Are Parkland, Coral Springs and Miramar all in on this?

I love the vision of a vibrant commuter rail with a tunnel allowing for a linear greenway park to extend from Searstown to downtown, but I understand that the FEC railway has stated that it won’t use a tunnel, and the existing railway and bridge must stay to support freight trains. Bummer. County and city commissions should estimate all projected costs, provide studies of ridership projections, conduct an economic feasibility study and determine how costs will be apportioned to various cities — then hold city and county referendums.

George Mulhorn, Fort Lauderdale