Florida accused of push for 'roads to nowhere' under cover of pandemic

Opponents of Florida’s largest highway construction project in decades say officials are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to advance three new unwanted toll roads that would destroy more than 50,000 acres of rural landscape and pave hundreds of miles through ecologically fragile wetlands and wildlife corridors.

A diverse coalition of opposition groups fighting the state’s so-called m-cores project insists the 330 miles of new highways planned for south-west, central and north Florida at an estimated cost of $26.4bn are not needed, and wanted the process halted at least until in-person public hearings could resume to evaluate the proposals.

The state, however, has pressed ahead with online meetings, appointing taskforces it requires to make recommendations to Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, by 15 November. Virtual gatherings held over the last 10 days, the coalition said, were beset by technological issues with the digital format so lengthy and laborious that it was almost impossible for their voices to be heard.

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