Easing traffic congestion a top priority for head of FDOT
With Florida’s population expected to soar by 24 percent to nearly 26 million residents in 2040, easing traffic congestion will continue to be a major challenge facing Metro Orlando and the rest of the state in the coming years, said Kevin Thibault, the state’s new transportation head.
Few people have more firsthand knowledge of Central Florida’s transportation systems than Thibault, who was tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month as transportation secretary.
After all, he has lived in the the region since 1988, and in 2016 moved into Trilogy Orlando, a 55-and-over gated community in Groveland. He earlier worked in top-level jobs at the state Department of Transportation for more
than 16 years before heading to the private sector.
Now that he has returned to government, Thibault, 56, said providing congestion relief to large urban areas throughout the state — including Orlando, one of the fastest-growing urban hubs in the country —will be a top priority at the agency. More residents moving into the state will mean an increasing number of vehicles filling the roads.
“It’s about quality of life,” Thibault, said in an interview Thursday from his office in Tallahassee. “It’s very time consuming when you’re sitting in traffic on I-4. You want to get home, to be with your family. …So one of our focuses is going to be congestion relief.”
One of the primary ways of relieving congestion would be through the use of new technologies and socalled intelligent transportation systems. Those include digital signs above highway lanes that warn motorists of traffic tie-ups, vehicle accidents and travel times through the use of sensors.
“If you see it’s going to take 45 minutes to travel 10 miles [on I-4], then you’re going to be looking for alternatives,” Thibault said. “We need to continue to do more of that technology.”
Car manufacturers are expected to build more autonomous vehicles — or self-driving cars — that are capable of sensing traffic patterns, preventing accidents and avoiding delays, such as when motorists slow down to rubber neck when encountering an accident or fender bender, Thibault said. He anticipates a “platoon” of selfdriving cars on highways in the near future.
“You won’t have to worry about someone cutting you off,” Thibault said. “All of that would be controlled. …It will change the dynamics [of highway driving].” New technology also will be used to improve traffic safety, another top priority for the transportation department, Thibault said.
“We should always have safety on our minds,” he said.
Thibault was raised in Fall River, Mass., and earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. An avid sports fan, he is married to his wife, Rose, and is the father of three adult children and has three grandchildren.
He moved to Orlando in 1988, and one of his first positions was as a development engineer for Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise. He soon was promoted to director of planning and production.
He also served as assistant secretary for the transportation agency from 2004 to 2010 and later as interim executive director for Florida’s Turnpike for about 10 months and was the top transportation department manager over the $2.7 billion high-speed train. He resigned “to pursue a new career opportunity,” according to his resignation letter, after then-Gov. Rick Scott rejected the train, calling it “ObamaRail.”
Thibault then landed a job in the private sector, working as business development manager and Florida infrastructure leader for the Parsons Corporation in Orlando.
Before being tapped by DeSantis, he was senior vice president of TranSystems in Orlando.
In Tallahassee, Thibault will lead the transportation department as it continues to look for ways to improve mass transportation.
“There are certain [roadway] corridors that you can’t widen them anymore,” he said. “So we have to think ‘what else can do to keep people moving and goods moving?’”
The agency is in discussions with Virgin Trains USA LLC, the Florida railpassenger company formerly known as Brightline, about offering train service from Orlando International Airport to Tampa.
The company currently offers train service between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale and Miami. And it’s about to begin construction of a rail system from West Palm Beach to Orlando’s airport that is scheduled to be completed by 2022.
Regarding SunRail — Central Florida’s commuter train that travels between DeBary and Poinciana, with stops in Altamonte Springs, Winter Park and Orlando — Thibault said his agency will continue working with local governments along the route.
The transportation department currently covers most of the costs of operating SunRail. However, in mid-2021, those costs are scheduled to be turned over to local governments along the route.
“2021 is still the date and we clearly have been working with our partners to get to that end date,” he said. “It is their system and it will help provide the movement of people within their corridor.”
Although Thibault may be more familiar with Central Florida, each urban area is different and requires different solutions regarding traffic congestion, he said.
“The congestion in Orlando is different than in Jacksonville as it is in Miami,” he said.