Daytona Beach, FL – A Central Florida congressman says it’s time to work on “Plan B” to get SunRail extended further into Volusia County.
In an in-studio appearance Friday on WNDB’s Marc Bernier Show, United States House Representative John Mica said he wasn’t surprised that the Federal Transit Administration refused to spend money to extend SunRail’s service from DeBary to DeLand.
“It’s a long shot to go after a TIGER grant,” the Winter Park Republican added. “Those idiots [in Washington, DC] that looked at the TIGER grant couldn’t find Volusia County on a map.”
The FTA awarded $500 million in TIGER grants – short for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery – the day before to 39 projects, but the $35 million needed to push SunRail further north wasn’t on that list.
That move came after SunRail’s Phase II north expansion struck out during the same grant process that awarded over $93 million in September for the Phase II south expansion that will create 4 additional stations in Osceola County.
Mica thinks a big reason why the money’s not coming in is because there needs to be an Orange City station included in the route between DeBary and DeLand.
“We’ve always had a Plan B,” Mica added. “What I think we can do is take Plan B and turn it from a lemon into lemonade.”
The current Phase II north expansion plans would only create a station in DeLand from DeBary, the northernmost SunRail station and the only one currently in Volusia.
Mica believes an Orange City stop would create as much traffic – if not more – than DeBary already does, making the Phase II north expansion a lot more viable.
Mica says he’ll be at a meeting on November 10th where other options will be explored to get funding for Phase II north.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.