Intermodal Development Program; administration; eligible projects; limitations.

(1) There is created within the Department of Transportation an Intermodal Development Program to provide for major capital investments in fixed-guideway transportation systems, access to seaports, airports and other transportation terminals, providing for the construction of intermodal or multimodal terminals; and to otherwise facilitate the intermodal or multimodal movement of people and goods.

(2) In recognition of the department’s role in the economic development of this state, the department shall develop a proposed intermodal development plan to connect Florida’s airports, deepwater seaports, rail systems serving both passenger and freight, and major intermodal connectors to the Strategic Intermodal System highway corridors as the primary system for the movement of people and freight in this state in order to make the intermodal development plan a fully integrated and interconnected system. The intermodal development plan must:

(a) Define and assess the state’s freight intermodal network, including airports, seaports, rail lines and terminals, intercity bus lines and terminals, and connecting highways.

(b) Prioritize statewide infrastructure investments, including the acceleration of current projects, which are found by the Freight Stakeholders Task Force to be priority projects for the efficient movement of people and freight.

(c) Be developed in a manner that will assure maximum use of existing facilities and optimum integration and coordination of the various modes of transportation, including both government-owned and privately owned resources, in the most cost-effective manner possible.

(3) The Intermodal Development Program shall be administered by the department.

(4) The department shall review funding requests from a rail authority created pursuant to chapter 343. The department may include projects of the authorities, including planning and design, in the tentative work program.

(5) No single transportation authority operating a fixed-guideway transportation system, or single fixed-guideway transportation system not administered by a transportation authority, receiving funds under the Intermodal Development Program shall receive more than 331/3 percent of the total intermodal development funds appropriated between July 1, 1990, and June 30, 2015. In determining the distribution of funds under the Intermodal Development Program in any fiscal year, the department shall assume that future appropriation levels will be equal to the current appropriation level.

(6) The department is authorized to fund projects within the Intermodal Development Program, which are consistent, to the maximum extent feasible, with approved local government comprehensive plans of the units of local government in which the project is located. Projects that are eligible for funding under this program include major capital investments in public rail and fixed-guideway transportation facilities and systems which provide intermodal access; road, rail, intercity bus service, or fixed-guideway access to, from, or between seaports, airports, and other transportation terminals; construction of intermodal or multimodal terminals; development and construction of dedicated bus lanes; and projects which otherwise facilitate the intermodal or multimodal movement of people and goods.