LAKELAND, Fla. — The price of living in Paradise is about to go up as more people move to Florida – the fastest-growing state in the nation.
The anticipated and continuing rise in population comes with some positives like a boost to the local economy; and some challenges impacting everyday costs, such as your daily commute and potential access to resources.
The Interstate 4 corridor and surrounding areas from Tampa to Orlando make up the fastest-growing region in Florida and local leaders are already working together to try and tackle some of the potential growing pains.
“It’s growing faster than the rest of the state, and Florida is the fastest-growing state in the country,” Ben Friedman said, an economist with Duke Energy Florida. “You really cannot underestimate the value of the Central Florida region and what's going on here.”
Friedman and a swath of business and community leaders joined together for a conference in Lakeland geared at exploring and addressing explosive growth.
Friedman says the bottom line is that it’s great. The local economy is getting a boost and more higher wage jobs are being created.
“When people come here, they're going to be spending money. That generates a lot of growth, it supports the businesses that are in this area,” Friedman explained.
But there are also some challenges. Housing can get more expensive, busy roads just get busier and infrastructure as a whole needs to keep up with a growing population.
Gary Ralston, an economist and managing director at SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler who organized the day-long conference, believes “connectivity” is among the biggest issues.
“I mean, how do people get from one place to another? That's why this panel is dealing with transportation. What's going on with I-4 is so important,” Ralston added.
The Florida Department of Transportation is planning on “Moving Florida Forward” with billions of dollars in planned projects aimed at alleviating congestion on high-traveled roadways, including a couple of projects directly on the I-4 corridor.
Brightline, who just launched a high-speed rail service from Orlando to Miami, is moving to connect Orlando and Tampa with a line along the interstate and a hub in the Ybor City area.
“When Brightline connects to Tampa, you're now connecting the five most densely populated counties in the state of Florida. So it's more than just the economic impact directly to Tampa, it's for the entire state,” Christine Kefauver, SVP of Development at Brightline, said.
Locally, efforts are focused on building more housing to alleviate rising prices and also meet other infrastructure demands.
“We want to build to get projects done faster. I mean, that would be the ideal thing,” Polk County Planning and Development Director John Bohde said.
Bohde says they are working on partnerships with the private sector to reach their goals.
“Our next five-year CIP is a billion dollars. That's $1 billion over five years, just on infrastructure and in facility capital improvement-type projects,” Bohde added.
As a whole, it’s going to take some patience and a whole lot of teamwork to address these growing pains.
“The goal here is people collaborating, working together, cooperating, finding solutions to potential problems,” Ralston added.