Broward takes Lauderdale’s lead, kills Wave streetcar plan

As costs and opposition rose, project began to lose luster

The end of the line came for downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Wave streetcar project Tuesday, when Broward commissioners followed Fort Lauderdale’s lead and voted to kill the 2.8-mile downtown transportation project that was a city priority for 14 years and had $135 million in federal and state support.

That financial backing wasn’t enough to overcome the project’s ballooning costs and the growing opposition of city residents as they realized the streetcar system wasn’t designed to relieve downtown traffic congestion, it wouldn’t be flexible with its fixed-route rails that would run in a lane with other traffic and it would have overhead wires that would be an unattractive addition.

The commission’s unanimous decision was made easier after County Attorney Drew Meyers said the county would be acting within the terms of its agreements to stop the Wave project.

However, there is one caveat: If the state has any liability under the grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration, that would at a minimum make the county’s decision “premature,” Meyers said. That does not appear to be the

case, Meyer told commissioners.

The state’s selection committee is scheduled to meet Thursday to reach a decision about the bids. It’s not clear what action it might take. The selection committee cannot make public comments during the bid process. There had been a concern that if the bid were lowered during the state process, that might be enough to keep the project moving forward.

But Meyers said that based on his discussions with attorneys for the state, any reduction could come only after an award was made “at the price proposed,” triggering the county’s ability to walk away from the project.

Broward Commissioner Nan Rich said she was following the will of the people, noting that Fort Lauderdale voters in March elected three commissioners who pledged to kill the Wave. Rich, a Wave critic, didn’t think it made sense financially.

“I’m really concerned about where our money goes,” Rich said. “To me, we have a lot of tremendous needs in this community.”

The streetcar project was budgeted at $195.3 million, using federal, state and local funds.

State transportation officials, who are overseeing the project, had budgeted $114 million for design and construction. Its agreement with the county said the project could move forward if the winning contract did not exceed 125 percent of that amount, or $142.5 million, but the low bid received was for $144.7 million.

Fort Lauderdale commissioners voted May 1 to end the city’s participation in the project after the high bids came in.

The low bidder on the project had asked the county to delay its decision, saying there was still a possibility that the joint venture between Prince Contracting and Delta Railroad Construction might reduce the final price enough to meet the original requirements for the streetcar line.

Commissioner Barbara Sharief said she hopes the defeat of the Wave will not hurt efforts to expand mass transit throughout the county.

“It is difficult for residents to get east to west in this county,” Sharief said.

The county commission plans to vote May 22 on whether to have a November referendum asking voters to approve a penny increase in the county’s sales tax to pay for transportation projects over the next 30 years. Current proposals in the plan call for about 27 miles of light rail routes, extending down Broward Boulevard from downtown Fort Lauderdale to Sawgrass Mills mall, and other routes along State Road 7 and University Drive.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis pledged to work with the county on a transportation system “that makes sense for the entire county.”

“I believe this entire project was developerdriven. It wasn’t really geared toward mitigating traffic,” Trantalis said of the Wave.

“Let’s see how we can get people moving from one side of the county to the other,” he said. “Let’s see how we can get people moving between the port and airport. Let’s do the right thing with our money.”