Tampa City Mayor Pam Iorio and HART are aggressively pushing for re-consitution and implementation of the Tampa Rail Project, a starter line running between the campus of the University of South Florida and the Tampa International Airport.

Charlotte North Carolina and Phoenix Arizona, cities of Tampa and Hillsborough County caliber, opened their lines in 2008. The growing consensus is that it's now Tampa's turn.

Tampa is in fact on track. The Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners is now pro-rail-choice following recent elections. This will help Mayor Iorio and rail supporters drive the choice home for transit investement during a speculated 2010 referendum. A previously hyper-conservative BOCC had worked to keep the question of rail choice away from the democratic process.

It should be noted that the city currently operates an approximate 3 mile heritage line through its newly developed residential and its long-standing tourist districts, which, upon ultimate completion, will loop downtown Tampa and connect to a wider light rail network. The Whiting Street expansion is expected to finished in 2010. The system itself is light-rail compatible and is Tampa's first operational example of urban rail since 1946.

Admist all this, TBARTA, the region's newly formed transit authority, is moving forward with an effort to document and materialize county-by-county transit connections with rail as a potenitally central component. It continues to patiently compile data, generate community input, and present an evolving regional plan.