This wee on NewsNight, a conversation with the CEO of the Greate Orlando Aviation Authority about major upgrade to Orlando International Airport and the future of transi connectivity in Central Florida, plus next steps for SunRai as control shifts to local governments.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort welcome to NewsNight where we take an in-depth look at the top storie and issues in Central Florida and how they shap our community.

Tonight we're checking in o developments in transportation here in Central Florida.

We're going to start at the airport at a massive long term effort to modernize MCO where passenger traffic hit nearly 60 million last year, making it one of th busiest airports in the nation.

Some of the upgrades will happen this year, others further into the future.

Some will be aesthetic, an updated interior, more comfortable seating and new restaurants and stores.

Some will be to improve efficiency.

Investing in new shuttle trains, baggage handling technology, parking infrastructure and an overhaul of car rental operations.

Well, I sat down recently with the CEO of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Kevin Thibault who told me the work is likely to cost in the region of $1 billion all said and done.

>>We have the second largest origin and destination airport, only behind LAX.

And that tells us that there's tremendous demand, not only at the destination, which, you know there are definitely excellent signs there where Epic Universe opening and the expansion of the other theme parks.

But we've seen the origin growing as well.

You know, historically, we were always around 20% of our passenger number had a point of sale from here.

Now it's in the 30s percent.

And you think about our catchment area, right?

Within two hour drive of thi airport is 13.5 million people.

And that's not taking into account the expanded catchment area that the Brightline service is going to provide.

>>Well, that brings me into that, topic about MCO's position in the broader infrastructure puzzle.

How important is it, do you think that the airport is eventually connected up to a sunshine corridor to local, SunRail trains and also for Brightline service to run to the west on to Tampa?

Is that an important part of the future strategy of the airport do you think?

>>It's more important strategy of the community at the end of the day, this community is continuing to grow and they realize that we can't handl the modal needs of that growth just by the automobile alone, right?

>>Does the airport form an important inte-- >>Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And as this has been designed here, you know, our forefather here at the airport decades ago developed the concept here at this airport so that the modal hub will be there at the train station.

Yeah.

So it can handle the high speed intercity passenger rail.

It can handle the commuter rail.

It can handle the light rail if that's the desires of the community.

So the formula is there.

It's really now the region getting together and saying, we need to move people in a different way.

>>Given the demand that we're seeing in Central Florida, given the growth there are specific improvements that the airport has been looking to make, particularly to terminals A and B, what do you think are the key improvement that are slated to take place?

>>You know, opening up terminal C, the two things it gave us the opportunity, obviously, to handle the growth that we've seen here, gettin to over 50 million passengers.

But it also gave us the opportunity to redirect some of those airlines from the current terminal to the newer terminal, so that we can address these improvements and their improvements and a broad range of different opportunities, whether we renovate and improve some of the the look and the feel of our gate areas and some of the restrooms, whether it be replacing every one of the concessions that are here in terminals A and B and at the gates.

So within a couple of years, every one of those are going to change out, whether it's investin in improving the baggage system, that bag that when you check in that's going to the plane, it has to go through a series of TSA security checks.

That system has been there since 9/11.

So it's been out here for 20 years.

It needs to be replaced, but then it's beyond that.

It's the including the people movers, the Gate Links that go out to those gates.

How can we improve those an improve the overall experience?

>>How can you improve them?

>>Well as replacing them.

>>Yeah.

>>So we're literally in process now spending several hundred millions of dollars to literally replace the ones that go out to the gates where Southwest is at and go out to the gates where Delta and others are located, because those people move is have been here for a while, and it's really making those investments to bring up to a, you know, kind of a standard of car that we're looking to get here at Orlando International Airport.

>>It sounds expensive.

How much is that going to cost?

>>Well, s you're talking in the baggage.

You know, we've got 650 million just on that one project.

You know, you've got the renovations is a couple hundred million.

Just undoing those.

So you're getting close to, in total, $1 billion over several years of makin those incremental improvements.

But it's it's significantly important if we're going to continue to provide what we constantly talk about as the Orlando experience.

>>Kevin Thibault from Orlando International Airport.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

And joining us in the studio this week for the first time, Gerry Hume from Spectrum News 13 covers traffic and transportation over there at Spectrum.

Good to see you, Gerry.

>>Pleasure to be here.

>>Thanks so much for coming in.

Appreciate it.

Alexa Lorenzo, morning anchor at WFTV Channel 9 also covers transportation issues.

Good to see you once again Alexa.

And Ryan Lynch from the Orlando Busines Journal writes about business, fortunately for the Busines Journal, thanks for being here Ryan good to see you.

Alexa, let me start with you, because you talked to Kevin Thibault last year, I think what sens do you get about sort of which modernization programs at the airport are sort of a priorit for them in terminals A and B?

>>So it comes down to experience and efficiency.

Experienc is what they're focusing on, expanding the lifetime of the terminal comple for 10 to 15 years.

That's expanded bathrooms, better retail options, new tiles, new carpet.

That's the experience of the traveler.

If you go to LaGuardia, that airport is night and day compared to Orlando International, of course they had their own renovation.

But when you look at efficiency, that's what our interview centered on efficiency for parking.

That was a huge one.

They - the boar unanimously approved $13 million for a project for that parking guidance system technology, that you see it at Disney Springs.

It's where you drive in they say okay, there are three spots on floor three, whatever it may be.

So that's huge because it'll help with parking efficiency.

They're talking about, if you've been to terminal C, the automatic bins that come down make the process easier.

Getting those in A and B and then a new baggage system to make that up part of the airport more efficient.

So those seem to be like the big efficiency items or the others, as you mentioned in your intro are a little bit more aesthetic.

>>Well, as long as they keep those carpets.

Ryan, you've written about these upgrades too and I wanted to get your take about the changes that people can expect soon, sort of versus long term prospects.

I mean, the GOAA board has already approved some spending, right?

That 235 million for interio upgrades that Aexa talked about.

What do you get a sense about sort of like the order of things.

>>Sure.

So, some of the things that people will see immediately, obviously they're doing a full revamp of their concessions there.

So a lot of the restaurants you'll see more local options.

And they, starte the first phase this year.

They're going to do desig and start that work.

You're going to get some wor on the air side bathrooms.

So that's, you know, pas security, potentially starting as early as this year.

You'll also have you know, the interior upgrades on A and B on the land side.

Those will probably come closer to 26.

So, you know, your rental car area is, your baggage claim.

They're going to look to, make those a little bit more, you know, nicer, kind of reflect more the current style of architecture, those sort of things.

So, you know, you'll start to see that in the next couple of years and those start to sort of roll out.

>>I mean, with this demand, with these amazing sort of numbers of in terms of passenger traffic we see a lot of actual traffic going to the airport.

And Alexa talked about that parking guidance system that's going to cost 13 million bucks to install.

Tell us a little bit about what you know, how that works and what that means exactly for people who don't know.

>>Well, yeah.

And like Alexa mentioned, it' kind of like at Disney Springs, you know, you go to into that parkin garage there and they've got the colo coded lights that indicate where there's a space-- >>Above parking spots.

>>You know, green or red.

Green means there's a spot open.

Red means it's, packed.

And that's certainly going to be helpful at MCO's garage, garages where it's ja packed already to find a space.

And it's a camera based system.

So it'll help figure out exactly how many spaces are open.

And even before you get into the parking garages, the entrances will have signs, will be digital signs on the roadway as well.

Indicat how many spaces are open there.

So that'll be helpful-- >>Which could be particularly useful at really busy peak travel times.

>>Yeah, absolutely.

And for those folks that maybe went on, a trip and came back and forgo where the car is, they can even the camera can even-- >>That's me.

>>Yeah, exactly.

The camera came to detect the license plate and help you find your car.

So that's something coming down the road.

It's, construction starts, the middle of this year, and it's supposed to be, debuting in 2027.

>>That could be quite quick.

I always mean to write down where I parking.

I never do, and then it's a nightmare.

Airport leaders, you know, sort of hope that parking capacity can also be added to with this rental car system that you talked about.

That's a big project, right?

The rental car about $2 billion.

>>That is a massive project, $2.2 billion.

And essentially right now the rental cars are spread out across different garages.

They want a consolidated rental car facilit where they're all in one spot.

And it makes sense that woul eliminate or open rather 5,000 spots for you, me, visitors to park at those garages.

And a fact that he told me in our interview last year is when the airport, you know, opened up the new garages, about 20% of this of locals parked in the airport and then traveled.

Now that numbers upwards of 30%.

So that's 30% of the population parking at the airport and going somewhere.

They just don' have the room for it right now.

>>That's amazing volume.

>>It's 2032.

>>I mean, in a piece Ryan, you wrote recently, you mentioned that baggage handling system, right?

That Alexa, also, I feel like you set the table for us quite well.

$650 million investment.

What will that mean for travelers do we think?

There's - a lot of that's going to be on the end of getting the bags to the aircraft, or what is it going to mean for travelers themselves?

>>Sure.

And, you know, as the pre-taped mentioned, we saw nearly 60 million this year, you know, some projections have, you know, by 2043, with all th expansion reaching 90 million, you know, fliers coming in out of Orlando by that year.

And, you know, having a system like that would really help expedite some of those things.

>>In the interim I know they're looking at, having sort of a remote area where they can put some of these bags that are going to offsite hotels and other places and kind of help wit some of that baggage capacity.

But in the long term, which is that $650 million project, they're really looking to completely revamp the system, especially in A and B and make that a, you know, sort of more effective way to get your bag, cause a lot less headaches for customers and kind of fit in with that experience thing that all these changes are really trying to get at.

>>Just a note, you can find my full intervie with Kevin Thibault on our websit wucf.org/newsnight.

Meanwhile tell us what you think, we're at WUCF TV on Facebook and Instagram.

You'll also find us @NewsNightWUCF on X.

Okay, next tonight, a subject we follow closely here on NewsNight, SunRail and the future of plans for a Sunshine Corridor.

On January 1st, local governments in Central Florida took over control of maintaining and operating the region's SunRai commuter service from the state.

The financial picture looks complicated.

The nearly 50 mile route from Volusia to Osceola currently loses money, and proposals for a sunshine corridor will cost billions.

The Sunshine Corridor concept is backed by key government leaders, as well as major commercial interests in Orlando's right rai coalition, including universal, SeaWorld and the I Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce.

The plan is to connect SunRail to the airport, tourist destinations such as Universal's new Epic Universe and Disney and Brightline services to Miami and eventually Tampa via a hub station.

Some track and likely cost would be shared with Brightline.

With local control now in place local governments have to decide if it's worth doing, and that means forking out several million for a study to figure it out.

The city of Orlando and Seminole County have both agreed to chip in half a million, and the Orlando Sentinel reports discussion to secure money from the state.

State and local supporters key to securing federal funds, which are likely to pay for substantial portion of the cost.

All right well, let's delve into this one.

This is an important issue for our community, and we've talked about it plenty before.

What's changed is that local control of SunRail or control of SunRail, switched to the locals on January 1st.

It's a complicated process, though, to migrate all the things that need to migrate.

I guess you don't just fli a switch and it happens, right?

>>You don't.

This was always in the plan.

After ten years of the Florida Department of Transportation operating SunRail, the ownership of it would switch over to the local governments and municipalities.

They were waiting on the completion of the DeLand station.

So that pushed it into this year 11 that we're in now.

So January 1st, now we'r in the ownership of the hands of Orange, Orlando, Volusia Seminole and Osceola counties.

They now pick up the tab, bu they don't operate it just yet.

That process is going to take a few more years.

All of these counties need to no figure out the staffing for it.

They need to figure out who' going to be the chief executive officer of SunRail.

They need to figure out legal counsel.

So we are now watching tha operational transition happen.

But we did hear from the Secretary of Transportation, for district five here, say, this is probably going to take 2 to 3 years for the operational part to happen.

The financial that's already checked off.

>>What about the board that that, oversees SunRail to the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission?

What have we heard about them, about how that transition is goin and its priorities for the year?

>>Yeah, so far so good.

They say obviously fundin is always going to be an issue with, dealing with al the different local governments.

You have to get all these boards to agree on one thing.

And during their first meeting they did set a three goals for 2025, the first being increased ridership.

Yeah, 1.2 million passengers last year hoping to boost that to 1.4 million this year.

A second goal is to become a fully fledged organization, as Alexa talked about, not just funding but operationally.

How are we going to handle that and getting the right staff in place for that?

And then the third point i to expand SunRail's footprint.

And as you mentioned there, that's the Sunshine corridor which is expanding into Orlando International Airport to the east and then to the west Orange County Convention Center and I-Drive south and down to Disney Springs.

And that's a big hurdle.

That's not going to happen any time soon.

>>Really big project, possibly decades.

>>Yeah, $4 billion estimate.

And that's a rough estimate.

>>Well, what about those, ridership numbers, Ryan?

I mean, SunRail had struggled over the years, right?

To to get ridership that would be profitable.

What are the sort of the long term projections for its for its ridership I mean are executives hopeful?

>>Yeah.

I mean, you had this past year 1.2 million riders, which, you know, it's the highest, since Covid happened.

But it still hasn't reached the 2019 level, where I think it was roughly 1.5 million.

But looking at the Sunshine corridor, a lot of folks see that is probably where most of the ridership growth would be.

You know, talking with folks they're looking at 2025 is a slight increase over this year.

But, looking at just adding the airport station alone would ad a couple of million more riders, which is why they're really stressing the potential to have this be phase so that they can really start getting those riders reall expand service and, and try to, you know, get the whole corridor going.

>>I mean, talking about that $4 billion, estimated budget for, for it.

I mean, what do you think are the sort of primary financial obstacles that local governments are going to face, right.

And sort of securing tha funding, but also sustainably?

>>Sure.

And it's an added cost for them now.

So you're funding the operations.

So you now have to fund that.

You know, you're looking at roadway funding, you're looking at other competing things.

And you know no we have a federal administration where we're not sure where their transportation funding, you know, priorities are going to be.

Is it going to be primarily roads?

Will they help fund some of these systems?

So, that creates another challenge.

And, most leaders have said we're going to need a couple different types of funding to really do that, whether that's state, whether that's local, whether that's federal, you know, so with an unclear picture, you know, we have to see, throug this PD&E study that they're looking to find we'll get some updated estimates and that will really kind o determine whether or no they'll move forward with that.

>>I mean, Seminole County, I think was the most recent local jurisdiction to, to, to kick in, funding.

I wonder how that so far in terms of commitments, how the funding landscape looks.

So that funding is going towar a PD&E study, which stands for project - Project Development Environment - Environmental study.

We always see those that acronym is the first part of every big project.

So that PD&E study is going to look at what maintenance ship would look like or maintenance, what ridership would look like, environmental impacts of the Sunshine Corridor.

That study needs to happen to receive state funding and federal funding.

The Florida Department of Transportation already committed $2 million for that study, and now the local governments need to come together and put, put that 4 million on the table.

Orlando, checked that box back in fall with 500,000.

Now, we had Seminole County do it last week with 500,000, but we're still missing our other big players here.

Orange Count leaders are backing the project.

They do plan to vote on how much they're going to contribute in an upcoming meeting.

That's what we've heard, from some of the, local leaders.

And Volusia and Osceola have said they backed this project, but they haven't put money where their mouth is, per se.

>>Yeah.

Let's talk about, Orange County's Transportation Advisory Commission a moment.

That's called, TransMac for short.

It met for the first time last month.

Let's hear from some of thos that spoke at the first meeting.

>>We're in the central part of the state.

We're the fastest growing stat within the union.

And all of that puts pressur on our infrastructure.

So managing growth and managing the traffic congestion is all a significant part of what we will be doing.

>>Wha I'm hoping to accomplish up here is I've talked a lot about road widenin and we can talk.

We'll talk more about wh I think they don't work.

But that doesn't mean I personally I don't feel I'm not anti-car.

What I would like to see in Orange County is a balanced transportation system where we have an investment in our roads for the people who choose to drive.

We have investments in transit for those who would like to ride a bus or take a train.

Investment in bike and pedestrian infrastructure for those who want to, or for skateboards, for those who want to get around and other ways around our community.

That is what I don't think we have currently.

>>As a commission, wha I hope we can do is dream big, think big, but also think abou the art of the possible.

We need to give actionable advice.

We need to not live in the past, but not live 200 years in the future.

We need to look at the future, but take give actionable steps now so we can get there.

>>Part of the, TransMac meeting that took place recently.

Jerry just remind us briefly about wh that commission was established.

I mean, what's the backstory there what's it supposed to deliver?

>>Yeah, yeah.

Well, orange County voters approved this, as a new advisory board to kind of recommend where to spend that money in Orange County, the transportation money in, Orange County and one of the bac stories behind is that there were concerns about special interests.

And those were kind of pushing some of the transportation projects.

You know you think about the Kirkman Road extension down to universal.

That was one of the concerns, even though Orange County has maintained this has been a project they've had on the books for decades now.

So that's kind of quell those concerns and have this advisory boar with people recommended for or, appointed by the members of the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

And so they're in charge of, of, recommending how to spend that money here in Orange County.

And obviously that's a, a tall order for them because there's not a whole lot of money.

You know, voters, decided to reject that, sales tax, to fund some of the transportation projects.

So at that meeting, they talked a little bit about how they want to think outside the box and how to fund some of these projects.

>>Yeah.

Well, Jerry mentioned there that that, that voters did indeed reject that penny sales tax.

The mayor I think, has tabled that proposal.

Right.

To go on the ballot in 2026 that's his - his hope.

Have there been any suggestions from the commission that we just heard from just now, thus far on thi funding question going forward?

>>There is a possibility that it could be back on the ballot in 2026 but they're trying to figure out how it would be bette received by voters.

In that meeting it wasn't discussed explicitly, but it has been state that a lot of those voter engagement sessions that happened, it was the same peopl attending them week after week.

Whether you were in East Orange County, West Orange County, along the I-Drive area, it was vocal voters going to these meetings.

So they need to do better engagement.

And the proposal here was 1% sales tax hike for 20 years.

Chatter is, is there any way we lower the percentage of sales tax, is there any way we cut the year's in half instead of doing this for 20 years.

What about ten?

So we're not married into this for two decades.

So I think all of that is going to be a focal point of this commission moving forward before any recommendations are put forth toward the board.

>>And of course, the board of County Commissioners themselves has been wrestling with this, this question a lot in recent years.

You can find a link to the Orange County Transportation Mobility Advisory Commission or TransMac on our website wucf.org/newsnight.

Okay, finally tonight, the governor unveiled his new budget this week.

In it, $14.8 billion for the Florid Department of Transportation, including aroun a $200 million investment in rail, freight and community transportation.

>>The state's growing.

We are not recruiting peopl to move to Florida.

We, like what we have.

It's a free country People can do that.

Because we understand there are challenges when people come.

But the reality is, is is that's just what's happened.

So we have a great emphasis.

I mean, if you look at I-4, what's been done already has been been great.

But then you look at what's going to happen.

Is this into the Polk County area Champions gate, all these terrible traffic logjams that are going to be alleviated when these projects are done.

>>Governor DeSantis there.

Jerry, let me start with you on this one.

What stands out to you from this budget?

>>I was right where governor DeSantis left off is talking about I-4 and champions gate.

Alex and I talk about every morning with traffic report is how it gets so clogged there.

And so they've got money coming in.

They've advanced this, money to build this mega project.

It's going to be from all the way from about Disney down to Polk County, US 27 down there, and it's supposed to help relieve congestion.

We're getting the express lanes down there.

A lot of people ask about that.

And even in the meantime, they've accelerated work.

Just this week, FDOT announced that they're accelerating some of that work.

They're adding an extra lane in both directions of I-4 down in Polk and Osceola counties to hel relieve some of the congestion even before they start this mega project.

>>What about you, Alexa?

What do you think?

>>I think a lot of people, regardless of where their politics lie they're happy to see relief in that area-- >>For sure.

>>And that is the biggest headline of the budge when it comes to transportation.

People do care about, trains and planes, but fixing their everyday drive will make all the difference for them.

>>As you mentioned, of course, local and state funding is really important.

When it comes to securing federal funding the Trump administration is looking to make cuts, as we know, in federal spending.

I mean, could it be a steep hill in the coming years to try to secure some of that federal funding that the state has been looking for?

>>Oh, without a doubt.

And, I think, you know seeing these appointees come in, we'll kind of get a feel for what kind of programs they'll prioritize, you know, whether, like I said before, it's roads or transit.

I know, Transit for America, which is an advocacy group that oversees, you know, transit funding and advocating for that.

They said, because of some of the memos that the, Department of Transportation has put out, there's roughly $626 million worth of funding that's at risk in Florida, depending on how they change up programs or, you know, do some of that, sort of government wide, funding look that they're doing right now.

So, that could potentially affect projects, you know, how things move forward, how local governments try to get some of that funding and, you know, really until some of these folks get into positions of power fully and we see where thei priorities lie, we won't know.

>>It might take a little time to shake out.

And, of course, local and state leaders are going to be watching the machination in Washington closely no doubt.

You can find a link to the governor's proposed budget on our website wucf.org/newsnight along the bottom of your screen.

But that is all the time we hav for this week.

My thanks to Jerry Hume Alexa Lorenzo, and Ryan Lynch.

Thank you guys so much for coming in.

Really appreciate your time today.

Good conversation.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

In the meantime, from all of us here at NewsNight.

Take care and have a great week.