A new development in the case against All Aboard Florida is being called a major win by Martin County.
On Tuesday the US Department of Transportation announced that it has withdrawn the $1.75 billion bond allocation first made to the high speed passenger rail company back in 2014.
Martin and Indian River counties had filed a lawsuit challenging the lawfulness of the bonds. Initially the $1.75 billion bond was meant to fund the entire project linking Miami to Orlando, but All Aboard Florida has since broken out the project into two phases.
The Department of Transportation has already approved a $600 million bond for Phase 1, which connects Miami to West Palm Beach.
It’s believed that All Aboard Florida will then seek a separate bond for the remaining $1.15 billion to complete Phase 2, connecting West Palm to Orlando. In a press release sent out yesterday, officials with Martin County claim that the withdrawal of the initial bond leaves no clear path to fund Phase 2. The county says it will begin assessing their options for fighting the funding of Phase 2 using taxpayer dollars.
