SUNRAIL EXPANSION Construction of the 17.2 mile segment of Phase 2 South of Sunrail started in April and is expected to be completed in two years. It will link Sand Lake Road in Orange County to the Town of Poinciana in Osceola County. Four new stations, railroad grade crossings and an additional track are part of this expansion project.
VETERANS EXPRESSWAY Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise approved a 25 cent toll increase on the Veterans Expressway for drivers using a new express lane beginning in 2017. It will be the first toll road in the United States to offer an express lane. A $380 million widening project on this road started in the summer of 2013 and will add an express lane and a toll lane in each direction.
TRI-STATE WATER WARS Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio are working with Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions to create an interstate compact to allocate water to Florida, Georgia and Alabama from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin. Their efforts to amend the 2017 Energy and Water Development bill were blocked by Georgia senators. Two federal lawsuits are pending on this issue, but a trial for one of the cases may take place this fall.