The Wave streetcar is bigger than downtown Fort Lauderdale

Broward County is situated in the center of a tri-county, mega-metropolitan with six million people. Land is built-out and suburban sprawl is no longer an option. The future will see vertical centers sprouting up in more places than just downtown Fort Lauderdale. As the region grows — and it will — significant public investments are essential to create a tolerable commute that is quickly evolving into gridlock.

This isn’t something that the likes of Uber or autonomous vehicles are going to fix. Mobility is a maze of issues that requires serious and immediate attention by people who have invested whole careers managing and studying city planning and transportation solutions. Great cities started this type of planning four and five decades ago.

And here, as we speak, the Florida Department of Transportation and Broward County are developing a regionally connected mobility plan to deliver more efficient roads, synchronized lights, and a variety of rapid public transit options. A plan like this is critical and couldn’t happen soon enough.

Of course, all of this will require money. Funding partners from the federal government, the state (FDOT), Broward County, and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (a planning agency representing all 31 Broward cities) are a prerequisite roster.

Which brings us to the Wave streetcar. The Wave is the first step of the bigger transit picture. It will be a critical connection to Brightline and service the doorsteps of Flagler Village, the Governmental Center, Las Olas and Riverwalk, the county and federal courthouses, Broward Hospital, and the numerous offices, apartments and hotels in the urban core. The fact is, there is no smarter place to start a county-wide rail system than downtown Fort Lauderdale; where the density is, where the most people work, and where the most people visit.

Broward has long been a donor economy to D.C. and Tallahassee. For the first time I can remember, the Federal Transit Administration and FDOT is prepared to invest over $135 million into a transportation project in our community. We are finally tapping into some of our own hard-earned taxes in the form of infrastructure investment. Once proven, our region’s relationship with FTA will help fuel funding for a larger countywide plan.

The county and city commissions took a leadership role when they committed to the Wave. Now, as Fort Lauderdale elections are heating up, rather than using the Wave as a badge of smart growth, candidates are grasping for controversy, driven mostly by neighbors adverse to change.

As leaders, we have a responsibility to think outside our jurisdictional boundaries. We must stay visionary and focused on the future and not lose an opportunity over political ambition. Think about the long-term regional implications. Think about the future. How will we ensure a sustainable, inclusive community for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren?

Alan Hooper is chairman of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority and a native Fort Lauderdale resident.