The Florida Department of Transportation has concluded that there is no way of financing the proposed $2 billion Port of Miami truck access tunnel in the current financial climate and has dropped the project from its plans.

Florida Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos made the announcement at a briefing of local leaders, including Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and city of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

“Unfortunately, the state is ready to pull the plug on the deal,” Alvarez told local reporters.

The state had sought to renegotiate the agreement with the French construction firm Bouygues Publics Trauvaux, which had won the bid to design, finance, build and operate the tunnel, and the Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown.

Babcock & Brown, which emerged as a major investor in port terminals globally during the past two years, had agreed to supply 90 percent of the equity for the tunnel. But the global economic meltdown smacked the Australian company so hard in December its stock imploded, plunging from $34 a share to five cents.

Gus Pego, chief of the Miami-area DOT district office, said the tunnel, which was first proposed in the 1970s, is not dead, just postponed indefinitely. “The project is still a good project, but unfortunately, we’re not going to move forward with it at this time,” Pego said. “We’re officially closing out the procurement process.”