County advances Miami port tunnel

County advances Miami port tunnel The Miami-Dade County Commissioners Thursday gave their approval to a tentative plan for local participation in the Miami port tunnel project'even though the details of local financial participation have not been finalized.
   The county will have until February to come up with a detailed financing package for its half of the $1.2 billion port tunnel. The Florida Department of Transportation is the lead agency on the project, and it will award a contract to one of three private sector companies seeking to build and manage the tunnel in a public-private partnership.
   Approval at the county level, even without final funding details, allows all the parties to proceed and will prevent the state from withdrawing the $600 million it has committed to the project.
   What remains to be seen is now the local participants, which include the county and the county-controlled Port of Miami, as well as the City of Miami, will bridge a local funding shortfall of at least $100 million. The money will almost certainly have to come from increased fees for port users, road tolls at the tunnel entrance and the existing port entrance, or a combination of both.
   Port users have balked at fee increases thus far. The fees could include a container fee for cargo carriers and a passenger fee for cruise carriers. There are fears that a container fee would just drive steamship lines to neighboring Port Everglades, actually eroding port revenues, county officials have noted.
   The tunnel would be constructed between the end of Interstate 395 on Watson Island and the man-made island on which the port is located. That would provide a direct link to the Interstate highway system and would end the need for trucks to drive through downtown Miami to reach the current port entrance.
   If the funding package is finalized, the tunnel is scheduled to be completed by 2013.