Broward officials are working on plans for a major east-west transit route near the center of the county.
The goal is to offer express transit service from the Sawgrass Mills mall to downtown Fort Lauderdale sometime after 2010. Planners figure that as traffic becomes increasingly congested on Interstate 595 and other county highways, public transportation will begin to seem like a more attractive option to many commuters.
''We cannot build enough roads to ever deal with all the traffic,'' said Richard Kaplan, the Lauderhill mayor and chairman of the county transportation board. ``We're trying to find another way.''
Four routes are under discussion, using different combinations of I-595, Broward Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard and State Road 84. Also under discussion is the type of service, which could be light rail or some type of express bus.
Planners hope to narrow down the options by the end of this year, and make a final decision for a route and technology type by the spring. The proposal would then go to the Federal Transit Administration for approval. If the FTA approves, then the project would undergo further study to work out additional details.
FTA approval is important because the federal agency can provide much of the money to pay for new transit routes. Local officials are hoping to get money through the FTA's ''New Starts'' program, which pays 50 percent of the cost of construction and equipment for new transit programs. State and local taxes would have to provide the rest.
Cost estimates for the transit project range from $50 million for an express bus system using existing roads to $600 million for a light rail system on new track.
Somewhere in between is the possibility of a busway using special restricted lanes.
The Florida Department of Transportation has hired a consulting company, Carter & Burgess, to study possible routes and technologies. The company studied a dozen possible routes, ranging from Griffin Road to Oakland Park Boulevard before narrowing the options to four.
FDOT and the consultants presented the four possible routes to county transportation planners last month. However, the planners wanted more information before narrowing the options further.
FDOT already is planning to put reversible automobile lanes, which would go eastbound in the morning and westbound in the evening, in the median of 595. But FDOT also owns land between the existing eastbound 595 and eastbound State Road 84 that could provide space for a rail line or busway.
By the end of the year, FDOT and the consultants are expected to ask the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization to narrow down the options, with a single route being selected by spring. The MPO is a group of city and county commissioners that decides how to spend Broward's share of federal and state transportation money.
Kaplan, the MPO's chairman, said the east-west route will connect with other transit lines such as Tri-Rail and planned busways on Interstate 75 and State Road 7.
''We are looking to create a coordinated mass transit system,'' he said.
