Politics
SunRunner bus lane removal may have violated state law created to make it harder to repurpose lanes
A local transit supporter has filed a complaint against Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 7 Secretary Justin Hall over the agency’s decision to remove dedicated Business Access and Transit (BAT) lanes along Pasadena Avenue used by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority’s (PSTA) SunRunner route.
The complaint, filed by local transit and pedestrian accessibility activist Garrett Marple, says Hall “likely made or authorized this decision … without the professional diligence, safety analysis, or ethical consideration required of a licensed professional Engineer under Florida law.”
It raises questions about whether the lane removal violates state law established to make it harder to repurpose traffic lanes.
Marple filed the complaint with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers.
The complaint does not specifically reference language in Florida law relating to repurposing traffic lanes. But legislation approved in 2024 (HB 1301) requires “any project that will repurpose one or more existing traffic lanes” to include “a traffic study to address any potential adverse impacts of the project” and hold at least one public meeting “before completing the design phase of the project.”
FDOT provided a one-page document outlining its reason for reverting the BAT lanes along Pasadena Avenue to general purpose lanes. It’s not clear whether the document qualifies under state law as a study, as it relates to lane repurposing. But even if it does, the state did not hold a public meeting to discuss the plan.
Asked about a potential violation of the law, a spokesperson from FDOT did not directly answer, and instead offered a lengthy statement explaining its decision to remove BAT lanes along Pasadena Avenue, saying the agency “routinely performs post-construction reviews of lane repurposing projects across the state to assess whether they are achieving their intended outcomes.”
The spokesperson, FDOT Public Information Officer Kris Carson, said the reviews are done “to examine driver behavior and see if additional features are necessary including signage, additional pavement markings etc. to ensure FDOT is providing a safe and efficient transportation system.”
Rep. Linda Chaney, in a press release celebrating FDOT’s decision to remove the BAT lanes along Pasadena Avenue, specifically referenced HB 1301 as a catalyst for reviewing the corridor. She did not respond to a request for comment sent to both her official House email and her staff.
The BAT removal only represents a small section of the overall SunRunner route, which travels along First Avenues North and South connecting downtown St. Petersburg to St. Pete Beach. First Avenues North and South are not state roads, and therefore FDOT does not have jurisdiction to remove BAT lanes along that portion of the route. But Pasadena Avenue is a state road (SR 693).
FDOT’s one-pager outlining its safety concerns along that part of the corridor shows an increase in crashes after the BAT lanes were implemented, from 36 in 2020 and 37 in 2021 to 55 in 2023 and 54 in 2024. The SunRunner route was completed in 2022.
Marple’s complaint takes issue with the data used to support removing the BAT lanes. It argues FDOT ignored “the availability of additional data” and calls the data FDOT did review “an inadequate sample under accepted professional standards.” Additionally, the complaint points out that two of the years reviewed — 2019 and 2020 — were during the COVID pandemic, “when driving patterns were highly atypical and not statistically reliable.”
Florida Politics requested data from 2018 and 2019 to further compare crash numbers, but FDOT has not responded.
Florida Politics obtained crash data compiled by the city of St. Petersburg along the portion of the SunRunner route on First Avenues North and South that actually shows a decrease in crashes from non-COVID years before implementation of BAT lanes to years after its implementation.
In 2018, there were 284 crashes reported along the corridor. There was actually an increase in crashes in 2023 (303), but there was a decrease in 2024 (262).
A different data set, compiled by Forward Pinellas from the crash data management system, shows a more pronounced decrease in crashes after the BAT lanes were implemented on First Avenues North and South. In 2018, before the lanes were installed, there were 405 crashes between both corridors. In 2023, after the lanes were implemented, that number dropped to 366 and in 2024 crashes dropped to 360.
Additionally, a PSTA report released in September 2024 evaluating SunRunner performance before and after traffic signal optimization found significant reduction in travel times along the route, including average rate of travel and cumulative stop delays.
Average travel along First Avenue North during morning hours dropped nearly 24%, according to the analysis, while the route along First Avenue South decreased by nearly 27%. Numbers were similar for midday and evening travel times.
Average speeds similarly improved by nearly 30% along First Avenue North during the morning commute and more than 37% along First Avenue South during the same time period.
The biggest improvement to travel time though was in decreases to travel delays, which hovered around a 70% reduction compared to pre-SunRunner times, according to the analysis.
And while FDOT claimed the BAT lanes on Pasadena Avenue were causing congestion, its own analysis found average speeds along the corridor actually decreased overall after the implementation of the lanes.
Five out of six time periods evaluated — weekday morning and evening peak travel times; weekday midday travel times; weekday overnight; and weekend overall — showed increased average speeds along both Pasadena Avenue northbound and southbound. Only weekend midday showed a decrease in average speed.
Still, FDOT said it “is returning the BAT lane to a standard right-turn/general-purpose lane to improve safety and traffic operations through increased capacity.”
To mitigate any loss in route efficiency, Carson wrote that FDOT was also working “on transit signal priority installations at intersections along the corridor to ensure minimal impact to bus operations.”
Because Marple’s complaint was filed with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, it is unlikely to impact the outcome of BAT lanes on Pasadena Avenue. The Board accepts complaints against industry professionals and if an initial assessment finds a possible violation of engineering laws or rules, an investigation will take place to determine whether to impose discipline. It does not dictate state policy.
Still, FDOT’s decision to remove BAT lanes could cause a financial blow. PSTA in 2020 received a nearly $22 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program to cover half the capital cost of building out the SunRunner route. That grant was hinged on the route being true BRT, the commonly used abbreviation for bus rapid transit.
“If we don’t have a reasonable lane that’s dedicated for buses and cars to turn, then it takes the ‘R’ out of BRT,” Darden Rice, chief planning and community affairs officer for the Pinellas transit authority, previously told the Tampa Bay Times. “There’s nothing rapid about a bus stuck in traffic.”
It’s not clear yet whether a repayment will be required or, if it is, how the funds would be repaid.
President Donald Trump’s problems with fixing the high cost of living might be giving voters a feeling of déjà vu.
Just like the president who came before him, Trump is trying to sell the country on his plans to create factory jobs. The Republican wants to lower prescription drug costs, as did Democratic President Joe Biden. Both tried to shame companies for price increases.
Trump is even leaning on a message that echoes Biden’s claims in 2021 that elevated inflation is simply a “transitory” problem that will soon vanish.
“We’re going to be hitting 1.5% pretty soon,” Trump told reporters Monday. ”It’s all coming down.”
Even as Trump keeps saying an economic boom is around the corner, there are signs that he has already exhausted voters’ patience as his campaign promises to fix inflation instantly have gone unfulfilled.
Voters are growing frustrated with Trump on inflation
Voters in this month’s elections swung hard to Democrats over concerns about affordability. That has left Trump, who dismisses his weak polling on the economy as fake, floating half-formed ideas to ease financial pressures.
He is promising a $2,000 rebate on his tariffs and said he may stretch the 30-year mortgage to 50 years to reduce the size of monthly payments. On Friday, Trump scrapped his tariffs on beef, coffee, tea, fruit juice, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and certain fertilizers, saying they “may, in some cases” have contributed to higher prices.
But those are largely “gimmicky” moves unlikely to move the needle much on inflation, said Bharat Ramamurti, a former deputy director of Biden’s National Economic Council.
“They’re in this very tough position where they’ve developed a reputation for not caring enough about costs, where the tools they have available to them are unlikely to be able to help people in the short term,” Ramamurti said.
Ramamurti said the Biden administration learned the hard way that voters are not appeased by a president saying his policies would ultimately cause their incomes to rise.
“That argument does not resonate,” he said. “Take it from me.”
How inflation hit Biden’s presidency
Biden inherited an economy trying to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, which had shut down schools and offices, causing mass layoffs and historic levels of government borrowing. In March 2021, he signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package. Critics said that was excessive and could cause prices to rise.
As the economy reopened, there were shortages of computer chips, kitchen appliances, autos and even furniture. Cargo ships were stuck waiting to dock at ports, creating supply chain issues. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 pushed up energy and food costs, and consumer prices reached a four-decade high that June. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rates to cool inflation.
Biden tried to convince Americans that the economy was strong. “Bidenomics is working,” Biden said in a 2023 speech. “Today, the U.S. has had the highest economic growth rate, leading the world economies since the pandemic.”
His arguments did little to sway voters as only 36% of U.S. adults in August 2023 approved of his handling of the economy, according to a poll at the time by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Trump might be his own worst enemy on inflation
Republicans made the case that Biden’s policies made inflation worse. Democrats are using that same framing against Trump today.
Here is their argument: Trump’s tariffs are getting passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices; his cancellation of clean energy projects means there will be fewer new sources of electricity as utility bills climb; his mass deportations made it costlier for the immigrant-heavy construction sector to build houses.
Biden administration officials note that Trump came into office with strong growth, a solid job market and inflation declining close to historic levels, only for him to reverse those trends.
“It’s striking how many Americans are aware of his trade policy and rightly blame the turnaround in prices on that erratic policy,” said Gene Sperling, a senior Biden adviser who also led the National Economic Council in the Obama and Clinton administrations.
“He is in a tough trap of his own doing — and it’s not likely to get easier,” Sperling said.
Consumer prices had been increasing at an annual rate of 2.3% in April when Trump launched his tariffs, and that rate accelerated to 3% in September.
The inflationary surge has been less than what voters endured under Biden, but the political fallout so far appears to be similar: 67% of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s performance, according to November polling data from AP-NORC.
“In both instances, the president caused a non-trivial share of the inflation,” said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank. “I think President Biden didn’t take this concern seriously enough in his first few months in office and President Trump isn’t taking this concern seriously enough right now.”
Strain noted that the two presidents have even responded to the dilemma in “weirdly, eerily similar ways” by playing down inflation as a problem, pointing to other economic indicators and looking to address concerns by issuing government checks.
White House bets its policies can tame inflation
Trump officials have made the case that their mix of income tax cuts, foreign investment frameworks tied to tariffs and changes in enforcing regulations will lead to more factories and jobs. All of that, they say, could increase the supply of goods and services and reduce the forces driving inflation.
“The policies that we’re pursuing right now are increasing supply,” Kevin Hassett, director of Trump’s National Economic Council, told the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday.
The Fed has cut its benchmark interest rates, which could increase the supply of money in the economy for investment. But the central bank has done so because of a weakening job market despite inflation being above its 2% target, and there are concerns that rate cuts of the size Trump wants could fuel more inflation.
Time might not be on Trump’s side
It takes time for consumer sentiment to improve after the inflation rate drops, according to research done by Ryan Cummings, an economist who worked on Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers.
His read of the University of Michigan’s index of consumer sentiment is that the effects of the postpandemic rise in inflation are no longer a driving factor. These days, voters are frustrated because Trump had primed them to believe he could lower grocery prices and other expenses, but has failed to deliver.
“When it comes to structural affordability issues — housing, child care, education, and health care — Trump has pushed in the wrong direction in each one,” said Cummings, who is now chief of staff at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
He said Trump’s best chance of beating inflation now might be “if he gets a very lucky break on commodity prices” through a bumper harvest worldwide and oil production continuing to run ahead of demand.
For now, Trump has decided to continue to rely on attacking Biden for anything that has gone wrong in the economy, as he did on Monday in an interview with Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”
“The problem was that Biden did this,” Trump said.
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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
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