Tolls still on table to help fund Miami port tunnel

Tolls still on table to help fund Miami port tunnel Port entry tolls may yet be a source of funding for the Port of Miami tunnel project, and everyday port users are not happy about the prospect.
   The port toll concept, first introduced as a funding option in 2006, was raised again Thursday at a Port of Miami 'stakeholders’ forum,' where officials from the port, Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Transportation updated port users on the status of the tunnel project.
   The tunnel is advancing from concept to reality, with the FDOT having selected an international consortium, known as Miami Access Tunnel — headed by Australia infrastructure and project finance company Babcock & Brown, with partners including contractor Bouygues Travaux Publics of France — to design, build and manage the tunnel over a 35-year period.
   The Miami Access Tunnel bid for the project came in at just over $850 million, a significant savings from the longstanding project cost estimate of $1.2 billion.
   The project is being half-funded from FDOT's Strategic Intermodal System fund, with the other half coming from a combination of local sources — including the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, the port and some small local taxing districts in the immediate port area.
   The port has discussed with primary tenants like steamship lines and cruise lines about funding the project with fee increases. But part of the port's share could also come from tolls that would be located at both the tunnel entrance, and prior to that on the existing bridge into the port from downtown Miami. The tunnel is not schedule to open until 2013, with excavation work beginning in 2008, according to the FDOT.
   While tolls would pay for a comparatively small fraction of the project, that proposal appears to strike a raw nerve with port users.
   No exact toll schedule has been determined, but one preliminary proposal calls for a charge of $1 for light cars and trucks, $4 for large trucks, and $8 for buses bringing in cruise passengers.
   Opponents of the toll concept warn the charges could drive ocean carrier business away from the port, achieving the opposite result intended for faster port access.
   At Thursday's meeting, port users also noted that much of the burden could ultimately fall on the everyday port employees or port tenants. That complaint prompted a proposal to either eliminate or toll payments for employees.
   Port Director Bill Johnson believes reductions in security costs and other operating costs could reduce the need for a toll.