ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Some transportation projects will be delayed because voters rejected a one-cent sales tax in Orange County.

What You Need To Know

  • Plans to add a SunRail connection to Apopka are on hold for now

  • Voters rejected a one-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects

  • The tax could have helped to fund the Orange Blossom Express line

  • Transportation initiatives and SunRail funding are still to be determined

Naqiy McMullen, co-chair for Central Floridians for Public Transit, said he was hoping the measure would have passed to expand SunRail service. He said he wanted SunRail to connect Apopka and Northwest Orange County to downtown Orlando so he could see family.

“My dad, he was diagnosed with cancer, and I do not get to see him as much as I like,” McMullen said. “He only has a few years left, and I would love to have the ability to see him as much as possible.”

Called the Orange Blossom Express line, it was a part of the transportation projects Orange County was considering if the tax passed.

“A SunRail train to Apopka would cut travel times in half, it would reduce the hourlong bus trip to a 30-minute train ride and would make it much more doable to visit him weekly," McMullen said. "I only see him once a month, typically.”

Now the project will stay in limbo.

Transportation initiatives and SunRail funding are still to be determined, a spokesperson for Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said.

McMullen said he plans to continue pushing for more support for public transit.

“I became an advocate just because riding the bus and relying on transit and realizing how terrible the status quo is, so I’ve been pushing for funding transit for years,” he said.