St. Lucie County Commissioners have unanimously accepted a 500-plus page Critical Assessment addressing “serious deficiencies” in the draft Environmental Impact Statement for All Aboard Florida’s proposed high-speed rail project.
The report indicates that the project as proposed will cause “significant impacts to the public health, safety and welfare” of St. Lucie County residents.
The Draft EIS has yet to be formally adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration and it is hoped it won’t be until numerous issues as outlined by the report are addressed.
Among the many faults identified in the report, county experts point out that All Aboard Florida’s Draft EIS failed to address major issues related to non-compliant highway-rail grade crossing signals, safety risks and issues relating to school buses, cars and pedestrian traffic at numerous crossings throughout the County.
Martin County lawmakers also find the EIS flawed particularly with boat traffic going through the railroad bridge. They say that boat traffic is much greater than that shown in the report.
