Porter Goss: “I thank the gentleman for an opportunity to speak on behalf of a project very important to motorists, to commerce, and…”

“I thank the gentleman for an opportunity to speak on behalf of a project very important to motorists, to commerce, and to the well-being of millions of residents and visitors to southwest Florida. As a great number of my colleagues and their families know, there has been a steady and dramatic increase in the population in the southwest Florida area. This growth is indeed welcome. It is reflective of a robust economy and a wonderful quality of life, but it has contributed to the serious congestion of our only interstate, I-75. We have requested funds that would widen the forgotten section of I-75, as we refer to it. It is a section that serves our State university and our international airport, to say nothing of the daily traffic of commuters and visitors. The current level of project funding contained in this act is very helpful and we are grateful, but it does not allow for the full solution to our congestion problem. It is for this reason that I respectfully ask the chairman that this issue be revisited during the conference committee for this legislation.”