Officials share ideas on rail lines with Tampa council

TAMPA — City Council members got a rundown Thursday on regional rail plans.

Bob Clifford, executive director of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, told the board residents consistently say they want an alternative to cars. But the need for rail goes beyond mobility, Clifford said.

"At the end of the day, it's about economic development," he said, noting that construction typically sprouts around transit stations.

At a meeting today, Mayor Pam Iorio is scheduled to present her plan for a rail line that would run from New Tampa to Tampa International Airport, serving as the first leg of a system connecting Wesley Chapel to St. Petersburg.

Hillsborough planners estimate the 31-mile Tampa line would cost $2.1-billion, or $70-million a mile. Iorio hopes the County Commission will ask voters in 2010 to consider a sales tax to help pay for it.

In the past, commissioners have rejected the idea. But Clifford said attitudes have changed.

City Council member Tom Scott, a former county commissioner, said he thinks commissioners will approve the referendum. But rail backers will have to work hard to convince voters to tax themselves, Scott said.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.