Fast Trains to Come to Ormond Beach Area

When Pres. Obama visited the U of Tampa this past week, he committed to a proposal for a high-speed train to link Orlando with Tampa, as one of the 13 fast-train projects to receive federal stimulus money. The central Florida plan received $1.25 billion, about half of the official request and half of the estimate needed to complete the project.

Vice President Joe Biden called the grant "seed money,'' adding that "more funding is going to come in the future as progress is made." Biden, who also came to Tampa, said the Florida bid was selected because it was the most advanced of all the requests considered by the administration. Sunshine State officials have been planning high-speed rail for more than 20 years. Florida officials say the Orlando-Tampa project could create 23,000 construction and 1,000 professional-service jobs.

The Florida Department of Transportation will build the 84-mile system, that will start at Orlando International Airport and run mostly along the median of Interstate 4. Although state and local officials are awaiting the details of how and when they will get the money, the grant is enough to pay for about three years of work, transportation experts say. If the schedule that the state DOT laid out holds true, the train could begin operating in late 2014 or early 2015.

There are no concrete plans yet to link the train with SunRail, the planned $1.2 billion commuter train recently approved by state lawmakers for Central Florida. The first phase of SunRail, from DeBary in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to Sand Lake Road in south Orange County, should be operating when the high-speed train is complete.

Florida received the second biggest slice of the $8 billion pie for high-speed rail. California was first, getting $2.3 billion to begin work on an 800-mile line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego. A third major grant was $1.1 billion to improve a rail line between Chicago and St. Louis so that trains travel up to 110 mph.

In the not-too-distant future, you can live in Ormond Beach, go a short distance to board SunRail, and connect with the Fast Train for Tampa. It's exciting to live in a progressive, forward-thinking part of the country. Come join us - search homes for sale in Ormond Beach and contact me for previews and real estate information on our Ormond Beach communities.

Sherry Armstrong, Realtor
386-679-3191
yourkeytothebeach@gmail.com
www.sherryarmstrong.com