Florida invests $3.5M to finish Everglades highway project

MIAMI – Florida’s Republican governor has directed $3.5 million in state transportation funds to finish raising a highway across the Everglades.

Gov. Rick Scott announced the funding Tuesday atop a new 2.6-mile (4-kilometre) span of the elevated Tamiami Trail.

A 1-mile (1.5-kilometre) section was raised in 2013. The completed project will allow water to flow under nearly 6 miles (9.5 kilometres) of the highway into Everglades National Park.

Scott also directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to request $40 million more in state money to complete the project.

Raising the Tamiami Trail is part of a massive Everglades restoration plan that requires both state and federal participation.

Scott, who is campaigning to unseat Democrat Bill Nelson in the U.S. Senate, has criticized Congress for delays in federal funding for Everglades projects.