Florida Senator Agrees That Express Lanes Are Dangerous

One (1) year ago Kaire & Heffernan started a petition in hopes that the DOT  would address the safety issues on the 1-95 express lanes.  Despite thousands of accidents, hundreds of injuries, and multiple fatalities the DOT insisted the express lanes were safe, and blamed the accidents on aggressive drivers.  Their plan was to install sturdier poles and to place the poles closer together.  We detailed the proposal in September and opined it would not work-It has not.

Sen. Frank Artiles has proposed Senate bill 250.  The bill seeks to ban express lanes statewide. See the bill below:

                      A bill to be entitled
     An act relating to high-occupancy toll lanes or

     express lanes; amending s. 338.166, F.S.; specifying
     that the Department of Transportation may only collect
     tolls on high-occupancy toll lanes or express lanes
     for the discharge of certain bond indebtedness on a
     project existing before a specified date; requiring
     that the tolls be eliminated after discharge of the
     project’s bond indebtedness; prohibiting the creation
     of high-occupancy toll lanes or express lanes on or
     after a specified date; requiring existing lanes to no
     longer be high-occupancy toll lanes or express lanes
     upon elimination of their tolls; providing an
     effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

The proposed bill would leave the lanes in effect until, the state pays the bond debts from existing express lanes. Once those debts are paid off, the lanes would have to be converted back to standard lanes.

While I am hopeful the Florida legislature will do the right thing, I am mindful of the fact that there is way too much money at stake.  Thus, if the lanes are not eliminated entirely, the plan we proposed last year of reducing the toll lanes from two(2) to one (1), would be an ideal solution.  The lane reduction would allow for a shoulder, as well as for the placement of permanent barriers.

Mark Kaire

Mark Kaire has been practicing law in Miami for nearly 30 years. He is dedicated to helping the injured people of Miami receive compensation. Mr. Kaire has been blogging on Miami’s legal issues for many years.