School Board Chairman Brad Etheridge leveled sharp criticism at Tallahassee leaders Tuesday for their approach to studying two toll road extensions.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            School Board Chairman Brad Etheridge lashed out at state leaders Tuesday for concocting a plan to build toll roads through rural Levy County where they face the least political liability.

            Speaking at the school board meeting, Etheridge said state officials have elected to go without the traditional method of telling people in advance where the toll roads might be constructed.

            The state has published two study area maps for the proposed Suncoast Connector and Northern Turnpike Connector that provide no indication of where the roads might be constructed in Levy County.

            “I just want to go on record and say I don’t appreciate what leadership has pushed down our rural throats,” Etheridge said.

            The subject of toll roads was raised by School Board member Chris Cowart. He attended Monday’s Levy County Legislative delegation meeting in Bronson. The toll roads were discussed at the meeting.

            The Florida Legislature is proposing to extend the Suncoast Parkway from Citrus County to Jefferson County, and the Florida Turnpike from Wildwood to U.S. 19 on the coast.

            State Sen. Rob Bradley said the extension of the toll roads would be part of a corridor plan to bring broadband internet to underserved rural areas and bridge the digital divide between well healed coastal areas and economically deprived rural areas. He said the corridors would be multi-use, providing central sewer and water services. He viewed the toll roads as a way to enhance economic opportunities for rural residents.

            But Etheridge was critical of the state’s process for discussing the toll roads. He said the state has yet to produce maps showing any routes for the toll roads through Levy County, and he said the Oct. 1, 2020, deadline for the Suncoast Corridor Task Force and Northern Turnpike Task Force to produce their final reports “is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard and they should be ashamed.”

            “So they have elected to run it through an area where they would have the least amount of impact for them politically,” Etheridge said. “I don’t appreciate it. Environmentally it’s going to affect things’ that’s been worked on a long time. I don’t appreciate the conversation on water whatsoever. We fought the pipeline going to Tampa 25 years ago; to have a conversation that we’re going to put rural sewer in, is maybe the most ignorant conversation I’ve ever heard from a politician in my life.”

            Etheridge said he has made a number of phone calls and it is his opinion that Levy County became the target for toll road construction when it didn’t object as strongly as Marion County to having the roads built through Levy County.

            “They haven’t heard from us the same way they heard from Marion County,” he said.

                Etheridge said he also didn’t appreciate Tallahassee leaders telling local leadership that the state had taken the toll road projects to this point, but locals would have to take the projects to the finish line. He said local officials have been told they have to make the “ugly decisions” while the state sits back and watches.

            “It’s where we are with Florida politics,” Etheridge said. “We have a handful of people making all the decisions.”

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School Board of Levy County Regular Meeting September 24, 2019; Posted September 24, 2019