City and county government officials have not yet weighed in on hundreds of pages of detailed drawings released three weeks ago by All Aboard Florida to fulfill Federal Rail Administration requirements for so-called 100 percent design plans.
The Rail Administration informed All Aboard Florida’s chief engineer that the plans “comply with the grade crossing mitigation requirements” set out by the agency.
Local public works directors were then sent links to the plan documents specific to their jurisdictions on May 5, and the first public meeting to examine the plans was set for this past Wednesday afternoon at the Indian River County Administration Complex. Staff members at Vero and the county have not yet pre-digested the intricate blueprints and provided their respective elected officials with any kind of interpretation or recommendations.
Indian River County has a team of attorneys and consultants looking for legal, regulatory and financial mechanisms to slow down or even halt plans to send the All Aboard Florida trains whizzing through Indian River County at up to 110 miles per hour 32 times a day on their trek from Miami to Orlando and back.
Stops are scheduled in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, but not along the Treasure Coast or in Brevard County, where the train is set to make the turn west to Orlando, stopping near the Orlando International Airport.
“Once the counties and the Florida Department of Transportation conclude their review,” Federal Rail Administration official Patrick Warren wrote to AAF, “FRA will be available to meet with the counties and AAF to assist with a definitive crossing layout for AAF’s final 100 percent design consistent with the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
AAF rail infrastructure official Adrian Share forwarded the plans to city and county public works directors, with a cover letter asking them to “please take this early opportunity to review the plans. Our team will reach out to you soon to schedule an in-person meeting to gather your feedback.”
“These plans represent the culmination of a thorough design exercise, which began with your staff during the Florida Department of Transportation Grade Crossing Diagnostic Process in 2014 and culminated with AAF’s receipt of plans approval from the FRA this week,” Share wrote to local government officials.
The Vero Beach City Council has not reviewed the plans as a group, and Councilwoman Pilar Turner said she has not received a set of the plans or been asked to meet with staff to look at them yet.
The only action the Board of County Commissioners was set to take was to approve a date and time for a public viewing of the plans.
County Attorney Dylan Reingold said Monday, “[Assistant County Attorney] Kate [Cotner] and I have not prepared executive summaries concerning the 100 percent design plans from AAF.”
The plans are virtually indecipherable to the non-engineer as far as the impact on traffic or the potential cost or work needed to complete the crossing improvements.
But the plans do show aerial-view and street-view drawings of rail crossings, traffic signals and street signs, noting which of those items would remain the same, or be made larger, smaller or simply moved.
The elevation and grade of each crossing is noted, with a red and yellow color-coding system to show which signs and structures would need to be removed, relocated and constructed.
A cover letter states that the plans show “which safety enhancements will be constructed at each grade crossing” with regard to a “Quiet Zone Analysis” should governments apply for quiet zones to be implemented.
The plans do not include budget figures for how much the improvements would cost, but a cover letter from the FRA does address one fraction of this topic.
“With respect to sidewalk safety along the entire passenger rail route, AAF must bear the cost of the equipment and installation of pedestrian gates wherever sidewalks exist as provided in the Final Environmental Impact Statement,” the FRA letter says.
“This also includes locations where no crossing license agreements exist. Where a sidewalk does not exist, AAF is not required to install a pedestrian gate assembly.”
The document, which includes 98 pages for the City of Vero Beach crossings alone, also lists dozens of “potential utility conflict plans” which show points on the train route where phone lines, electric lines, underground water and sewer pipes, fiber optic lines, gas lines, cable lines and other communication or utility lines come into contact with a crossing. Potential overhead utility conflicts are also identified for each crossing.
