A 67-mile highway looping around the eastern side of Cincinnati. A widening of Interstate 45 in Houston. A 52-mile, four-lane highway from southwest to central Indiana. The addition of high-occupancy toll lanes on Maryland’s Interstate 270.
Highway construction and expansion projects are in the works around the country. But none will add more highway miles or be more costly than Florida’s Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance program, or M-CORES for short. The 330 miles of toll roads are actually three highway proposals, two in north Florida and the other running from central to southwest Florida. The roads, supporters hope, will help the state keep up with its explosive population growth.
But a diverse cross section of opponents have dubbed them the “roads to ruin.” Conservationists worry about the impact on endangered species, especially the Florida panther. Taxpayer watchdogs don’t see the financial sense in the multi-billion-dollar price tag. Young people believe state leaders are forsaking their future by incentivizing driving and sprawl at a time when climate change demands reductions in both. And rural communities in the highways’ path... Read more
