Tampa International Airport
Tampa International Airport is an international airport six miles west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, it has been praised for its architecture and Landside/Airside design of a central terminal connected by people movers to four satellite air terminals and gates, a pioneering concept when designed in the late 1960s. The airport was called Drew Field Municipal Airport until 1952; the airport is served by over twenty major air carrier airlines, four regional airlines, three air cargo carriers. Three of the regional airlines operate under the banner of mainline air carriers, while a fourth, Silver Airways, is independent and utilizes Tampa International Airport as a hub for its operations. Southwest Airlines operates a focus city in TPA and carries the airport's largest share of passengers, operating up to 121 daily flights; the airport presently serves 93 non-stop destinations throughout North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe.
Tampa International is one of only two airports in the United States to host regular flights to four Cuban cities: Camagüey, Holguín, Santa Clara. The airport handled 19,624,284 passengers in 2017, making it the 29th-busiest airport by passenger movements in North America. Tampa Bay is the birthplace of commercial airline service, when pioneer aviator Tony Jannus flew the inaugural flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line on January 1, 1914, from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Tampa using a Benoist Flying Boat—the first scheduled commercial airline flight in the world using a heavier-than-air airplane. In 1928 the city completed the 160-acre Drew Field six miles west of Downtown Tampa, it was named for local developer John H. Drew, who owned the land on which the airport stood; the more popular Peter O. Knight Airport was opened on Davis Islands near Downtown Tampa in 1935, where both Eastern and National Airlines operated until 1946; the United States Army Air Corps began negotiating for the use Drew Field in 1939 during the buildup of military forces prior to World War II.
In 1940, the City of Tampa leased Drew Field to the U. S. Government for 25 years, or until the end of the "national emergency." During the war, the United States Army Air Forces modernized the airport. The airfield was renamed it Drew Army Airfield. Third Air Force used it as a training center by 120,000 combat air crews in bomber aircraft for the European and Pacific theaters, flew locally based antisubmarine patrols from the airfield until that mission was taken over by Naval Aviation assets of the U. S. Navy and U. S. Coast Guard. There was one mishap in 1943. Despite this, Drew Field set a safety record for the Third Air Force in 1945 after 100,000 flying hours had been completed over a period of 10 months without a fatal incident; the aircraft operated included the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Douglas C-47 Skytrain, North American AT-6, North American B-25 Mitchell, others. After World War II, the Army Air Forces vacated the facility and Drew Field was returned to the City of Tampa; the Peter O. Knight Airport and Drew Field reversed roles as the main Tampa airport because Drew Field was expanded by the United States Army Air Forces during the war years.
Airlines moved to Drew Field from Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Island, too small to handle the Douglas DC-4, DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation prop-liners coming on line in the mid-1940s. During this period, the airlines were housed in the former Drew AAF Base Operations building. Trans Canada Airlines international flights began in 1950 and Drew Field was renamed Tampa International Airport; the airport's second terminal opened in 1952 near the intersection of Columbus Drive and West Shore Blvd. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 30 departures a day on Eastern Air Lines: nonstops to Chicago-Midway, Cleveland, New York Idlewild, seven nonstops to Atlanta and 18 within Florida. National Airlines had 26 departures, including seven nonstops beyond Florida to Houston Hobby, Washington National, New York/Idlewild and three to New Orleans. Trans-Eastern had 12 departures and Mackey had two DC-3s, none nonstop beyond Florida. Trans-Canada had thirteen nonstops a week to Montreal; the 1952 terminal, built for three airlines, was swamped after the Civil Aeronautics Board granted Capital, Northeast and Trans World Airlines authority to fly from Tampa in the late 1950s.
An annex was built east of the terminal for the new carriers. Turbine-powered flights began in 1959 on Eastern Air Lines' L-188 Electra. National DC-8 nonstops to Los Angeles and weekly Pan American jets to Mexico City started in 1961; the 1952 terminal was congested as larger jets replaced piston airliners and it was again expanded. During the early 1960s, the aviation authority began planning a replacement terminal in an undeveloped site at the airport. Airport leaders chose the Landside/Airside design in 1965 after a study. Construction on the new terminal designed by Reynolds, Smith & Hills began in 1968 between the airport's parallel jet-capable runways. Prior to its opening on April 15, 1971, sixty thousand people toured the new facility during a two-day open house. National Airlines Flight 36 from Los Angeles was the first to arrive at the terminal. M. the jet taxied to Airside E. The graphics and sign
Sun-Sentinel
The Sun-Sentinel is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Broward County and southern Palm Beach County. Owned by Tribune Publishing, it circulates all throughout the three counties that comprise South Florida, it is the largest-circulation newspaper in the area. Nancy Meyer has held the position of publisher and Julie Anderson has held the position of editor-in-chief since February 2018. For many years, the Sun-Sentinel targeted Broward County and provided only limited news coverage in Palm Beach County. However, in the late 1990s, it expanded its coverage to all of South Florida, including Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, in the late 1990s. In the former area, The Miami Herald is its primary competition, while in the latter area, The Palm Beach Post is the chief competition; the Sun-Sentinel emphasizes local news, through its Community Local sections. It has a daily circulation of 163,728 and a Sunday circulation of 228,906; the paper was awarded its first Pulitzer Prize in 2013, in the category of Public Service Journalism, for its investigative series about off-duty police officers who engage in regular reckless speeding.
The newspaper has been a finalist for a Pulitzer 13 times, including for its 2005 coverage of Hurricane Wilma and an investigation into the Federal Emergency Management Agency's mismanagement of hurricane aid. It produced a significant contribution to information graphics in the form of News Illustrated, a weekly full-page graphic that has received more than 30 international awards; the photography department has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize twice in the Spot News category. It was a finalist in 1982 for its coverage of a Haitian refugee boat disaster, again in 1999 for its powerful coverage of Hurricane Mitch in Central America; the Sun-Sentinel website has news video from two South Florida television stations: West Palm Beach's CBS affiliate WPEC and Miami and Fort Lauderdale CW affiliate WSFL-TV. It publishes a Spanish-language weekly, El Sentinel, as well as various community publications; the Sun-Sentinel traces its history to the 1910 founding of the Fort Lauderdale Weekly Herald, the first known newspaper in the Fort Lauderdale area, the Everglades Breeze, a locally printed paper founded in 1911, which promoted itself as "Florida's great Farm and Fruit Growing paper."
In 1925, the Everglades Breeze was renamed the Sentinel. That same year, two Ohio publishers bought both the Sentinel and the Herald, consolidating the newspapers into a daily publication called the Daily News and Evening Sentinel. In 1926, Horace and Tom Stillwell purchased the paper. However, the devastation wrought by the 1926 Miami hurricane caused circulation to drop and, in 1929, Tom Stillwell sold the paper to the Gore Publishing Company, headed by R. H. Gore, Sr. By 1945, circulation of the Daily News and Evening Sentinel had climbed to 10,000. In 1953, Gore Publishing changed the name of the paper to the Fort Lauderdale News and added a Sunday morning edition. In 1960, when the paper had a circulation of 60,000, Gore Publishing purchased the weekly Pompano Beach Sun and expanded it into a six-day morning paper, the Pompano Sun-Sentinel—thus reviving the "Sentinel" name it had discarded seven years earlier. In 1963, the Tribune Company acquired Gore Publishing. In the 1970s, the morning paper changed its name to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
In 1982, the two papers merged their editorial staffs. The two papers merged into a single morning paper under the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel name. In 2000, after expanding its coverage, the paper changed its name to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. In 2001, the Sun-Sentinel opened a full-time foreign bureau in Cuba. Shared with the Tribune Co. their Havana newsroom was the only permanent presence of any South Florida newspaper at the time. In 2002, the Sun-Sentinel began publishing El Sentinel; the newspaper is distributed free on Saturdays to Hispanic households in Broward and Palm Beach counties and is available in racks in both counties. It is available online at Elsentinel.com. In 2004, the paper won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for its coverage of health and human services in the state. On August 17, 2008, the Sun-Sentinel unveiled a redesigned layout, with larger graphics, more color, a new large "S" logo; this is in tune with another Tribune newspaper, which redesigned its newspaper a few months and created a brand synergy with Tribune sister operation and CW affiliate WSFL-TV, which relocated its operations to the Sun-Sentinel offices in 2008 and adopted a logo matching the capital "S" in the new logo.
Since 2011 to present day, the newspaper made significant updates to meld print media with modern media. These advances include: launching the pure-play entertainment website SouthFlorida.com and starting a video channel called SunSentinel Originals. As a result of their media integration, the newspaper was named one of Editor & Publisher's "10 Newspapers That Do it Right"; the Sun-Sentinel gives annual awards to area businesses and business leaders, including Top Workplaces for People on the Move, Excalibur Award and others. In April 2013, the Sun-Sentinel won its first gold medal Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. In 2014 the Sun-Sentinel was named one of the "10 Newspapers That Do It Right" by Editor & Publisher magazine. Official website Today's Sun-Sentinel front page at the Newseum website
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States. It began as a British colony in 1733, the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies to be established. Named after King George II of Great Britain, the Province of Georgia covered the area from South Carolina south to Spanish Florida and west to French Louisiana at the Mississippi River. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. In 1802–1804, western Georgia was split to the Mississippi Territory, which split to form Alabama with part of former West Florida in 1819. Georgia declared its secession from the Union on January 19, 1861, was one of the original seven Confederate states, it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the 8th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Empire State of the South. Atlanta, the state's capital and most populous city, has been named a global city.
Atlanta's metropolitan area contains about 55% of the population of the entire state. Georgia is bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina, to the northeast by South Carolina, to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by Florida, to the west by Alabama; the state's northernmost part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. The Piedmont extends through the central part of the state from the foothills of the Blue Ridge to the Fall Line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the coastal plain of the state's southern part. Georgia's highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level. Of the states east of the Mississippi River, Georgia is the largest in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures; the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12, 1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II.
The Trustees implemented an elaborate plan for the colony's settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan, which envisioned an agrarian society of yeoman farmers and prohibited slavery. The colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins' Ear. In 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a crown colony, with a governor appointed by the king; the Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence. The State of Georgia's first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24, 1778, was the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution on January 2, 1788. In 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains leading to the Georgia Gold Rush and establishment of a federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued in operation until 1861.
The resulting influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to take land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgia's tribes. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that U. S. states were not permitted to redraw Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched federal troops to gather the tribes and deport them west of the Mississippi; this forced relocation, known as the Trail of Tears, led to the death of over 4,000 Cherokees. In early 1861, Georgia became a major theater of the Civil War. Major battles took place at Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta. In December 1864, a large swath of the state from Atlanta to Savannah was destroyed during General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea. 18,253 Georgian soldiers died in service one of every five who served.
In 1870, following the Reconstruction Era, Georgia became the last Confederate state to be restored to the Union. With white Democrats having regained power in the state legislature, they passed a poll tax in 1877, which disenfranchised many poor blacks and whites, preventing them from registering. In 1908, the state established a white primary, they constituted 46.7% of the state's population in 1900, but the proportion of Georgia's population, African American dropped thereafter to 28% due to tens of thousands leaving the state during the Great Migration. According to the Equal Justice Institute's 2015 report on lynching in the United States, Georgia had 531 deaths, the second-highest total of these extralegal executions of any state in the South; the overwhelming number of victims were male. Political disfranchisement persisted through the mid-1960s, until after Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. An Atlanta-born Baptist minister, part of the educated middle class that had developed in Atlanta's African-American community, Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a national leader in the civil rights movement.
King joining with others to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta in 1957 to provide political leadership for the Civil Rights Movement across the South. By the 1960s, the proportion of
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport is in Broward County, United States, The airport is off Interstate 595, U. S. Route 1, Florida State Road A1A, Florida State Road 5 bounded by the cities Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach, three miles southwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale and 21 miles north of Miami; the airport is near cruise line terminals at Port Everglades and is popular among tourists bound for the Caribbean. With over 700 daily flights to 135 domestic and international destinations, FLL has become an intercontinental gateway since the late 1990s, although Miami International Airport still handles most long-haul flights, it is the largest base for Spirit Airlines, catering to the airline's international to domestic network, it is a focus city for JetBlue and Norwegian Air Shuttle. It is a focus city for Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines. In 2016, the top five air carriers by market share were JetBlue Airways at 24.1%, Southwest Airlines at 21.2%, Spirit Airlines at 20.6%, Delta Air Lines at 9.7%, United Airlines at 6.1%.
FLL is ranked as the 18th busiest airport in the United States, as well as the nation's 14th busiest international air gateway and one of the world's 50 busiest airports. FLL is classified by the US Federal Aviation Administration as a "major hub" facility serving commercial air traffic. In 2018, the airport processed 35,963,370 passengers including 8,608,363 international passengers. Merle Fogg Airport opened on an abandoned 9-hole golf course on May 1, 1929. At the start of World War II, it was commissioned by the United States Navy and renamed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale; the base was used for refitting civil airliners for military service before they were ferried across the Atlantic to Europe and North Africa. NAS Fort Lauderdale became a main training base for Naval Aviators and enlisted naval air crewmen flying the Grumman TBF and TBM Avenger for the U. S. Navy and U. S. Marine Corps aboard aircraft carriers and from expeditionary airfields ashore. NAS Fort Lauderdale was the home base for Flight 19, the five TBM Avengers that disappeared in December 1945, leading in part to the notoriety of the Bermuda Triangle.
NAS Fort Lauderdale closed on October 1, 1946 and was transferred to county control, becoming Broward County International Airport. Commercial flights to Nassau began on June 2, 1953, domestic flights began in 1958–1959: Northeast Airlines and National Airlines DC-6Bs flew nonstop to Idlewild, Northeast flew nonstop to Washington National. In 1959 the airport assumed its current name. In 1966, the airport averaged 48 airline operations a day; the Feb 1966 Official Airline Guide shows three nonstop departures to New York–Kennedy and no other nonstop flights beyond Tampa and Orlando. Five years later. FLL had added nonstop flights to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York–La Guardia, Newark and Pittsburgh. By 1974, the airport was served by Braniff International Airways, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines, Northwest Orient Airlines, Shawnee Airlines and United Airlines. Delta and Eastern were 14 routes from FLL respectively. By 1979, following deregulation, Air Florida, Florida Airlines, Mackey International Airlines, Republic Airlines, Trans World Airlines and Western Airlines served the airport.
Low-cost airline traffic grew in the 1990s, with Southwest opening its base in 1996, Spirit in 1999, JetBlue in 2000. Spirit Airlines made FLL a hub in 2002. In 2003, JetBlue made FLL a focus city. US Airways planned a hub at Fort Lauderdale in the mid-2000s as part of its reorganization strategy before its merger with America West. Low-cost competition forced several major legacy airlines to cut back service to FLL, with United pulling out of the airport in 2008 and American Airlines moving its New York and Los Angeles services to West Palm Beach in 2013. During the 2005 hurricane season FLL was affected by Hurricane Wilma. Katrina struck land in late August as a Category 1 and made landfall on Keating Beach just two miles from the airport with 80 mph winds but caused only minor damage. However, when Hurricane Wilma made landfall in October roof damage was reported along with broken windows, damaged jetways, destroyed canopies; the airport was closed for a period of 5 days. Hurricane Wilma was a Category 2 when its center passed to the west of FLL.
In February 2007, the airport started fees including private aircraft. FLL is one of the few airports to administer fees to private pilots. A minimum charge of $10 is assessed on landing private aircraft. On October 11, 2016, Emirates announced that they would operate a flight from Dubai to Ft. Lauderdale daily using a Boeing 777-200LR; the airline decided on Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami, which has longer runways and better facilities for long haul flights, because of its codeshare agreement with JetBlue. The airline started flying in December 2016. On October 27, 2016, British Airways announced a flight from London Gatwick to Ft. Lauderdale three times a week, which began on July 6, 2017. A shooting took place at the airport on January 6, 2017 in Terminal 2, claiming five lives and injuring six. In 2018, NORAD announced that it would be stationing fighter jets at the airport during President Donald Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago. F
Radio-frequency identification
Radio-frequency identification uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio waves. Active tags may operate hundreds of meters from the RFID reader. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object. RFID is one method of automatic identification and data capture. RFID tags are used in many industries. For example, an RFID tag attached to an automobile during production can be used to track its progress through the assembly line. Since RFID tags can be attached to cash and possessions, or implanted in animals and people, the possibility of reading personally-linked information without consent has raised serious privacy concerns; these concerns resulted in standard specifications development addressing privacy and security issues. ISO/IEC 18000 and ISO/IEC 29167 use on-chip cryptography methods for untraceability and reader authentication, over-the-air privacy.
ISO/IEC 20248 specifies a digital signature data structure for RFID and barcodes providing data and read method authenticity. This work is done within ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 31 Automatic identification and data capture techniques. Tags can be used in shops to expedite checkout, to prevent theft by customers and employees. In 2014, the world RFID market was worth US$8.89 billion, up from US$7.77 billion in 2013 and US$6.96 billion in 2012. This figure includes tags and software/services for RFID cards, labels and all other form factors; the market value is expected to rise to US$18.68 billion by 2026. In 1945, Léon Theremin invented a listening device for the Soviet Union which retransmitted incident radio waves with the added audio information. Sound waves vibrated a diaphragm which altered the shape of the resonator, which modulated the reflected radio frequency. Though this device was a covert listening device, rather than an identification tag, it is considered to be a predecessor of RFID because it was passive, being energized and activated by waves from an outside source.
Similar technology, such as the IFF transponder, was used by the allies and Germany in World War II to identify aircraft as friend or foe. Transponders are still used by most powered aircraft. Another early work exploring RFID is the landmark 1948 paper by Harry Stockman, who predicted that "... considerable research and development work has to be done before the remaining basic problems in reflected-power communication are solved, before the field of useful applications is explored." Mario Cardullo's device, patented on January 23, 1973, was the first true ancestor of modern RFID, as it was a passive radio transponder with memory. The initial device was passive, powered by the interrogating signal, was demonstrated in 1971 to the New York Port Authority and other potential users, it consisted of a transponder with 16 bit memory for use as a toll device. The basic Cardullo patent covers the use of RF, light as transmission media; the original business plan presented to investors in 1969 showed uses in transportation, banking and medical.
An early demonstration of reflected power RFID tags, both passive and semi-passive, was performed by Steven Depp, Alfred Koelle, Robert Frayman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1973. The portable system operated at 915 MHz and used 12-bit tags; this technique is used by the majority of today's microwave RFID tags. The first patent to be associated with the abbreviation RFID was granted to Charles Walton in 1983. A radio-frequency identification system uses tags, or labels attached to the objects to be identified. Two-way radio transmitter-receivers called interrogators or readers send a signal to the tag and read its response. RFID tags can be either active or battery-assisted passive. An active tag periodically transmits its ID signal. A battery-assisted passive has a small battery on board and is activated when in the presence of an RFID reader. A passive tag is smaller because it has no battery. However, to operate a passive tag, it must be illuminated with a power level a thousand times stronger than for signal transmission.
That makes a difference in exposure to radiation. Tags may either be read-only, having a factory-assigned serial number, used as a key into a database, or may be read/write, where object-specific data can be written into the tag by the system user. Field programmable tags may be write-once, read-multiple. RFID tags contain at least three parts: an integrated circuit that stores and processes information and that modulates and demodulates radio-frequency signals; the tag information is stored in a non-volatile memory. The RFID tag includes either fixed or programmable logic for processing the transmission and sensor data, respectively. An RFID reader transmits an e
Central Florida Expressway Authority
The Central Florida Expressway Authority is a highway authority responsible for construction and operation of toll roads in four counties of Greater Orlando. It was created in 2014 to replace the Orlando–Orange County Expressway Authority, which only had authority in Orange County, as of 2016 no roads outside that county have been added to the system. Other toll roads in the area are operated by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise and the Osceola County Expressway Authority; the Wekiva Parkway, the final piece of a beltway around Orlando, is planned for completion through Lake and Orange Counties by 2021. CFX operates an electronic toll collection system known as E-Pass, one of the first systems of its kind in the United States. Use of the state's SunPass system is available on CFX roads. On November 9, 2017, it was announced. CFX began accepting E-ZPass as a form of payment starting on September 1, 2018, but only on roads which they maintain. CFX was founded in 1963 for the purpose of building the Bee Line Expressway, soon built the East-West Expressway.
The following roads were built by CFX: Beachline Expressway from State Road 15 to State Road 520, 1966-1967 East-West Expressway from State Road 50 west of State Road 435 to State Road 50 east of State Road 551, 1972-1973 Beachline Expressway from State Road 482 to State Road 15, 1981-1983 Central Florida GreeneWay from State Road 50 to Seminole County, 1987-1988 East-West Expressway from State Road 551 to State Road 50 east of State Road 434, 1987-1989 Central Florida GreeneWay from State Road 528 to State Road 408, 1989-1990 East-West Expressway from Florida's Turnpike to State Road 435, 1989-1990 Central Florida GreeneWay from International Drive to State Road 528, 1991-1993 Western Beltway from Florida's Turnpike to U. S. Highway 441, 1998-2001 Goldenrod Road Extension, 2001-2003 Western Beltway from County Road 535 to Florida's Turnpike, 2001-2002 Western Beltway from Seidel Road to County Road 535, 2004-2005 John Land Apopka Expressway from State Road 429 to U. S. Highway 441, 2008-2009Many sections of the current expressway system, such as the connection of SR 528 from Sand Lake Road to I-4, the sections of SR 417 in Seminole and Osceola counties, SR 429 south of Seidel Road, were built by the Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, their toll facilities are managed by the same.
Beginning in 2007, CFX began transitioning its signage from FHWA Series E modified typeface to signs that use the new Clearview typeface. The newest addition to the CFX system is an extension of Maitland Boulevard known as the John Land Apopka Expressway; the expressway opened on May 15, 2009. The project was inherited from the Florida Department of Transportation, which referred to it as the "Apopka Bypass". Planning is underway for an extension of State Road 429 known as the Wekiva Parkway. In addition, SR 408 underwent a massive overhaul, including the relocation of its two main toll plazas, large sections of widening, expansion of a bridge over Lake Underhill; the current 25-year plan, the "2030 Master Plan", includes two new toll connections to Brevard County, a new connection from Sanford to New Smyrna Beach parallel to State Road 415, a southern bypass of SR 417 to Florida's Turnpike south of St. Cloud, a connection from the Western Beltway to U. S. Highway 27 south of Clermont. A 2013 grand jury investigation into the CFX, found a "culture of corruption," involving gifts and campaign donations.
CFX was criticized for firing the Director, attempting to stop this corruption, replacing him with a legislator with no experience of running a toll operation. The job paid over $175,000 annually; the Central Connector, known by the Florida Department of Transportation as State Road 529, was a proposed tollway planned to parallel Orange Avenue between downtown Orlando and the Beachline Expressway. The project was canceled in 1991 after much local opposition. In 2010, CFX was attempting to keep the average toll to $0.11 per mile. Central Florida Expressway Authority
Florida State Road 589
The Veterans Expressway and Suncoast Parkway is a north–south toll road near the Florida Gulf Coast. Maintained and operated by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, this 57-mile transportation corridor extends from State Road 60 in Tampa, north to U. S. Route 98 near Chassahowitzka; the Veterans Expressway was built to accommodate the increasing commuter traffic in the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area, with the Suncoast Parkway opening in 2001, extending from near the northern terminus of the Veterans Expressway to U. S. Route 98, with a possible northern extension to U. S. Route 19/U. S. Route 98 in Crystal River in Citrus County in the planning and development stages; the Veterans Expressway extends 15 miles from State Road 60 west of Tampa International Airport to Van Dyke Road in northern Hillsborough County. The southern two miles, between Courtney Campbell Causeway and Hillsborough Avenue, upgraded Eisenhower Boulevard to expressway standards with frontage roads and is not tolled. North of Hillsborough Avenue, the remaining 13 miles are tolled.
Between Courtney Campbell Causeway and Van Dyke Road, intermediate interchanges are provided at Independence Parkway, Memorial Highway, Hillsborough Avenue, Waters Avenue, Anderson Road, Linebaugh Avenue/Wilsky Boulevard, Gunn Highway, Ehrlich Road, Hutchison Road and Dale Mabry. There are six ramp plazas; the Veterans Expressway converted to all-electronic, cashless tolling in 2014. Drivers must have a SunPass or they will be billed with TOLL-BY-PLATE; the "N minus 1" formula is used for multiaxle vehicles on all Turnpike facilities except for the ticket system on the Turnpike mainline and the T ramp on the I-4 Connector. N minus 1 may be calculated by counting the number of axles, minus 1, times the passenger car toll rate at each plaza; the 42-mile-long Suncoast Parkway proceeds north from the Veterans Expressway to US 98 in Hernando County, near Chassahowitzka. Drivers of automobiles traveling the entire length of the Suncoast Parkway pay $4.75 US toll. The Suncoast Parkway is the first Florida's Turnpike Enterprise toll road to feature open road tolling.
The three mainline toll plazas on the Suncoast Parkway feature bypasses where those paying cash remain on the mainline and stop at the toll plaza while those with Sunpass or related transponders exit the mainline roadway, bypass the toll plaza and re-enter the mainline. This differs from other open road tolling locations in Florida where transponder users remain on the mainline and bypass toll booths built to the side; as part of the Suncoast Parkway project, a multi-use paved recreational trail called the Suncoast Trail was constructed parallel to the western side of the highway, opened along with the Parkway itself in 2001. The trail begins at Lutz-Lake Fern Road, continues north for 41 miles to the highway's terminus at US 98. Four miles north of State Road 54, an additional 6.5-mile paved bicycle trail connects the Suncoast Trail to the J. B. Starkey Wilderness Park in New Port Richey. Use of the Suncoast Trail is free, but in late 2010, a $2.00 parking fee was implemented at the Lutz-Lake Fern trailhead.
At the same time, Pasco County implemented a parking fee, but it was rescinded in late 2017. Motor vehicles are prohibited along the entire trail, except for Park Rangers, other authorized vehicles. For most of its length, the Suncoast Trail stays close to the parkway, separated by fences, in some places concrete barriers. Bridges that cross rivers and streams were built with enough width to accommodate trail users. Where roads cross above the parkway north of State Road 52, the trail strays from the parkway, allowing users to cross the intersecting road at-grade. Pedestrian and cyclist crossing of minor cross streets is regulated by posted signs. At busier intersections, pedestrian crossing signals are part of the traffic signal systems in place; the notable exception is at the State Road 50 interchange near Brooksville, where a dedicated overpass has been constructed to cross State Road 50 500 feet west of the main parkway. The Veterans Expressway does not accept cash, it ceased cash collection in June 2014.
The Suncoast Parkway was the first of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise expressways to feature open-road tolling when it opened in 2001. However, unlike roads that were converted into open-road tolling, the SunPass transponder users must turn their vehicle onto an off-ramp while cash users stay on the main highway route at toll plazas. During a resurfacing project in 2012-2013, the lanes were reconfigured, signage modified, to give the outer SunPass lanes the appearance of being the primary route. Access to the booths on the inner part of the roadway, was reduced to a single lane. Toll rates were adjusted statewide on October 29, 2017. SunPass users pay $5.08 to travel the entire 55-mile route. Toll-By-Plate is accepted on the Veterans Expressway section, is priced at $2.41. Toll-by-Plate users are subject to a $2.50 administrative fee, invoices are mailed monthly. Cash is accepted between Exit 14, the northern terminus at US 98. Cash users pay $4.50 to pass through the three mainline plazas. Mainline plazas are attended, change is available.
Booths at all on/off ramps are unattended, cash payments require exact change. The Veterans Expressway is the north-south portion of what was the Northwest Hillsborough Expressway proposed in the 1960s as the northwest beltway around Tampa's outer limits; as the plans finalized, the communities al
