JACKSONVILLE TRANSIT

JacksonvilleTransportation Authority

22 January, 2009

JAXPORT RAIL ACCESS AND A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO FIX IT

Several times people from around the world have tapped into this blog looking for information on the port location and railroad access here in Jacksonville. I thought we'd look at this from both the positives of rapid growth which has earned us the nickname "The Port Of Gold", to the negatives of piecemeal rail services.

First the location of JAXPORT. Consider if you will a major seaport that is located exactly 1/2 way between Miami, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia. This location puts 2/3 Rds of the population of the United States within 24 hours from our docks to your containers destination. One also has to surrender the old thinking of the East Coast as a rather straight line - similar to the west coast of the United States, it's simply not true. In fact the East Coast of the USA reaches so far east that in Maine it is only across a river from the "Atlantic Time Zone". Boston is South of that locale, and New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington are not only South but quite west of Maines Location. There is a slight buldge just sough of Norfolk, Virginia, in the storm prone Carolina Outter Banks, but then as the coast continues South it also continues West. The Western Most Port on the Atlantic Ocean is Jacksonville, Florida's, JAXPORT.

JAXPORT is so far west that if you drew a line on a globe you might be amazed to find the lat.-long. GPS cordinates for Jacksonville to be N 30.33and W 81.65 compaire this with Boston, Massachucetts 42°. 20' N and 71° .06' W, Jacksonville is a full 10 degrees West. The real shock to most citizens is when they note that Jacksonville is almost directly below, CLEVELAND, OHIO at: 41.46' N and 81.65' W. This means as an East coast port and beach city, we're 128 miles west of Pittsburgh, Pensylvannia - and far enough south that cold winters or large mountain ranges need not play a part in your shipping or travel worries. Just how far west is west? Well you could ship and travel from the West Florida Ports of Key West or Naples, but Jacksonville is just as far west as they are. In fact the whole pensulia of Florida is angled back toward the South and EAST so as one travels south, the East coast of Florida moves farther and farther East of the Panama Canal.

Why not just build in Miami, West Palm Beach, Naples or Tampa? Frankly these are all nice cities blessed with beautiful weather, but their port and transportation space is used up on the east coast, and the prices are in the stratosphere. Tampa and Naples on the other hand have room and decent development prices, but they are locked into a single rail carrier and shallow water with a Interstate Highway bridge restricting the height of all traffic in and out of Tampa Bay.

The fact that Jacksonville is the sole railroad gateway to Florida is quite important to shipping lines, industrial concerns, warehousing complexes and travelers. Being located near the Georgia border at the base of Florida's Crown, Jacksonville is 500 miles from Key West. So unless you are shipping all of your cargo within Florida, that's 500 extra miles more or less, of transportation on every container or every passenger. Going West with that shipment or trip? Pensacola is another 400 miles West from Jacksonville. So locating elsewhere in this state could add as much as 900 miles to your transportation costs just to get out of Florida. Most people are amazed that it's much less distance from New York City to Chicago, then from Key West to Pensacola, Florida. In fact Pensacola is closer to St. Louis, Missouri, then the lower coasts of Florida.

So what is the hangup with JAXPORT and rail transportation? Nothing that couldn't be fixed with some creative investments, either private or public.

Jacksonville Port Authority

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JacksonvilleTransportation Authority

19 December, 2008

Another Jacksonville Area City Joins The Transit Big League

BRUNSWICK PLANS FOR MASS TRANSIT !

More then just another tour bus, the Brunswick system has the potential to build-in the tourism and intermodalism unlike any other new-start bus operation on earth.

These coaches by Silver Eagle go way back with me. While sitting in a sales meeting with a Canadian coach builder the salesman said, "You don't want an Eagle, they are built by sub-standard Mexican workers..." Sub-Standard? Did this guy know my wife who was sitting across the dinner table was from COLOMBIA? All racism aside, if your in the business and haven't looked at an Eagle, let this old Trailways Supervisor introduce you to the most beautiful and comfortable Motor Coach in the World. JTA? Brunswick Transit? For those longer commuter runs - LOOK AT A SILVER EAGLE!

Amtrak comes screaming through Folkston, Georgia, close to the stop listed for "Brunswick and The Golden Isles". Did you think High Speed Rail was only in the North? Watch these trains pass and just try to focus on a single car, I dare you.

You want opinion? Brunswick's Historic Waterfront is a Post Card waiting to happen - All of the time! By the way, so is the rest of the reigon, and yes, they have hotels.

First came Valdosta TRANSIT'S Announcement, with a state university and Moody Air Force Base, a mere 75 miles on the arrow straight Norfolk Southern Railway from Jacksonville.

Now comes word that little cousin to our North, the one time Airship capital of the Southeast, Brunswick, Georgia, is also about to get on the bus.

This is fantastic news, as both are within the window of Jacksonville's direct economic impact zone, trade zones, and potential SMA.

For those that missed Brunswick, it is off of I-95 some miles to the East along the Coastal Georgia Islands and resorts. As a child I marveled at the great Naval airships which were stationed at NLTA Glynco. The hangers were so big, they had their own weather forecast INSIDE! Today the former base is a national law enforcement training center and center for the FBI. Brunswick, though it is off the beaten path, is nestled among some of the most beautiful resort islands in the world, as much a step back in time as Seville, Spain; St. Augustine, Florida; or Cartagena, Colombia.

Brunswick is also a booming deep water port directly served by two major railroads and one terminal line.

Brunswick also has commuter air service, and regular scheduled Greyhound Bus service and several charter lines on the "GOLDEN ISLES ROUTES".

Between Brunswick and Jacksonville is St. Marys and the old WWII army port of Kings Bay. Though that base was completed as the major load point for transports with a deep harbour, it opened too late to be of any use in the war effort. So for many, many years, it simply slept, no one really knowing what to do with this giant unused base and port facility. Then along came the Trident Nuclear Submarine fleet and a need for an East Coast home port with deep water. Suddenly Kings Bay Naval Station was born, at the time the 7Th Naval base in the Jacksonville district.

Though the bases have been cut back to 5, they still play a huge role in the local economics.

One would hope with the plans for Jacksonville Transportation Authority to go regional, someone would include Valdosta and Brunswick as well as Waycross, Georgia in these plans.

Here is the Newspaper story out of Georgia:

Brunswick Public Transit System Possible
Jess Davis
The Brunswick News (Georgia)

GEORGIA - A public bus system could be begin operating in Brunswick and the Golden Isles late next year.

The Brunswick Area Transportation Study Policy Committee, which includes representatives from the city, county and business community, adopted findings of a recently completed transit study Monday and voted to move forward with a plan that could create public transportation here by the end of 2009.

Federal grant money would pay for buses and bus stop shelters.

Brunswick and Glynn County have already set aside $200,000 each for the system.

Instead of setting up a cost-sharing agreement to fund administration of the system, the committee voted to request bids from outside management companies. The company would use from profits from operations to pay administrative costs of running the system while the city and county would provide the buses and bus stops.

The transit plan, written by consultant URS, calls for initial creation of two routes, with options for adding two additional routes.

The first route would run weekdays at 30-minute intervals along a 6-mile route between Mary Ross Waterfront Park, downtown, and the Glynn Place Mall area. Service would be from 6:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.

The second route would run weekdays along a 10-mile route between Mary Ross Park and Interstate 95 interchanges at U.S. 341 and Spur 25/Golden Isles Parkway. Service would initially operate from 6:15 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. on a 60-minute frequency.

The third route would run from the city to the southern end of St. Simons Island. It is being considered optional because fewer people would expected to use it than the initial two routes to get to and from work.

The fourth would be weekend service on the weekday route of Mary Ross Park to Glynn Place Mall.

Planners anticipate that the total plan would require 10 years to phase in all routes.

A few possible hurdles could delay the bus system, but the county has taken steps to expedite getting grant money from the federal government, said Dave Hainley, community development director.

"This has been a long-range desire for the county," Hainley said. "We are one of a few counties our size that don't have public transportation."

The Transit Blogger has a couple of suggestions for this study.

1. Brunswick has always had a dedicated railroad (AMTRAK) stop over on the mainland. As more schedules or trains are added, why not schedule one of these smaller coaches to meet not only the Amtrak Trains but also the aircraft with direct connections to the hotels, history, port and the Golden Isles resorts. In other words get public transit into the game of serving all level of patron.

2. Work with the US Navy at Kings bay, the historic towns of St. Marys, Georgia - Fernandina Beach, Florida, to create sweet lollipop shaped routes that circulate the respective metro, then fly to tie it all together. JTA buses would circulate the main hotels, airport and transit centers in Jacksonville, then make a freeway dash North to Fernandina Beach, St. Marys-Kingsland, and Brunswick. Meanwhile the BRUNSWICK TRANSIT buses would make the circuit of port, airport, law academy, tourists islands, then break for a similar freeway dash south ending in Jacksonville. As commuter rail, Southeast High Speed Rail, and expanded Amtrak come into play the schedules could be altered to serve all modes.

3. Don't forget, AMTRAK and the AIRLINES often carry advertising in their schedule cards, folders or national timetables. The best way for a transit agency to assure it can stand up to Hertz or Avis, is to have a few words in these publications and websites to let the passengers know that you offer a service - fast - clean - comfortable - kind and far cheaper then another car rental or taxi.

4. It should be remembered that Greyhound and perhaps some of the Trailways partners are operating along these routes. If they could be made interested, what a fantastic opportunity to create a true cooperative network from the Golden Isles to the Port of Gold on Florida's First Coast. What a micro-mega system this would be with Amtrak-JTA-Greyhound-Trailways-Brunswick Transit all on board as players.

Brunswick, lead on little cousin, lead on!

11 December, 2008

JAXPORT GETS A 6 BILLION DOLLAR BOOST!

Holy Tug Boats Batman, at this rate 10 years down the road, we will be LOS ANGELES EAST!

Let's hope we can get the City moving with the Mass Transit plans before the crowds start to hit town. $6 Billion dollars to spend is a bunch of bucks to scatter over our explosive growth city.

For those at a distance, perhaps you think I am stressing this too much. I CAN'T! The Northside of the City is looking more and more like old Tombstone - the wild west silver mining camp in Arizona... It should be remembered by historians though, that along with the wild growth came rail passenger service.

Sorry for the crass-commercial advertisment, but here is a video of the announcements. Enjoy.

hanjin

ANOTHER BILLION FOR THE PORT OF GOLD

Sunrise over the St. Johns River - Just beyond this scene, around the bend is The Port Of Gold.

How Long Until The All Aboard?

Finally, some great news from a City that isn't falling apart. Another Billion in economic impact, hundreds of millions in new spending, and at least 5,500 more jobs.

Now the Transit and infrastructure race is on.

As Jacksonville scrambles to improve the parkways around the St. Johns River, the sea port is gobbling up land faster then a starving badger in a meat shop. Even in this time of credit crunches and cut-backs we're on a roll.

A trip along Zoo Parkway or Hecksher Drive is like driving through Disney World when it was nothing but endless dirt and dozier's. Miles and miles of dirt and dozier's.

Every bridge along the waterway, which Floridians know crosses countless estuary rivers and creeks, are having to be rebuilt for container traffic.

Up in the CSX Railroad tower downtown, plans call for a new freight rail line which will go North from JaxPort along the old Seaboard mainline, then cross over to the current CSX Jacksonville-Folkston mainline on the old Gross Cut-Off.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is wrestling with conceptual ideas on Commuter Rail to the foot of Zoo Parkway, Dunn Avenue and I-295E. From those stations buses, either regular transit buses or BRT could take the hordes of new employees to and from their jobs.

Some may recall with humor the funny advertisements Jacksonville Economic Development ran back in the 1970's. "Why are thousands of New Yorkers leaving town for the BIG CITY? - JACKSONVILLE!" But my hands down favorite was, "Ask any Atlantian the way to THE PORT - JACKSONVILLE!" Atlantians, got up in arms over those full page spreads, but it's all water under the keel now. Since that time we have long since trumped Atlanta's population within our corporate boundary's. Time will tell if there is a another transportation office tower rising on the banks of our majestic river.

FROM THE ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE:

After months of negotiations, Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd.’s board of directors has approved a 30-year lease with the Jacksonville Port Authority.

The South Korean company, which has its U.S. corporate headquarters in Atlanta, will open a $300 million container terminal in Jacksonville and have it operating in late 2011. The move will create more than 5,600 jobs and have a nearly $1 billion annual impact, according to JaxPort officials.

Construction of the 88-acre terminal facility is expected to take about two years once the permitting process is complete. It will be adjacent to the TraPac Container Terminal, which will be open in January 2008 to handle Mitsui OSK Lines.

“This is the one-two punch we have been working toward,” said Jaxport Executive Director Rick Ferrin in a news release. “TraPac put us on the map. Hanjin makes JaxPort a major player in Asian and European trade and together the new terminals help fulfill our mission of bringing jobs and opportunity to the region.”

The Hanjin terminal will be the company’s first dedicated operation on the East Coast and will capitalize on the increased traffic spurred the expansion of the Panama Canal.

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FROM THE JACKSONVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL:

Jaxport, Hanjin complete terminal deal
Officials with the Jacksonville Port Authority and Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. put the finishing touches on a 30-year lease for 90 acres Wednesday.

The South Korean company’s $300 million container terminal at Dames Point, which is expected to be operating in late 2011, will create more than 5,600 jobs and have a nearly $1 billion annual impact, according to Jaxport officials.

Jaxport Executive Director Rick Ferrin said the deal is part of Jaxport’s goal of being a global gateway and having different types of cargo flowing through the port.

“Hanjin is a key development to that success and vision,” Ferrin said.

Hanjin Senior Vice President C.S. Choi said the company’s Jacksonville terminal will be the most efficient automated terminal Florida has ever seen.

Construction on the terminal is expected to take about two years once the permitting process is completed. It will be adjacent to the TraPac Container Terminal, which will open next month to handle Mitsui OSK Lines. The addition of Hanjin, which operates 200 ships, will triple the cargo-handling capacity at the port.

When finished, the terminal will be able to handle up to a million containers annually.

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So there you have it, another DONE DEAL in Jacksonville's Port Of Gold. Watch the lift off of Commuter Rail and BRT in the very near future, as this sleeping giant rockets toward a new position as America's 9TH or 10TH largest city. Boisterous? You bet, I call it home town pride - just watch us grow.

The $100 Million dollar question is how long until we get off our collective wallets and build the promised Rapid Transit lines?

Jacksonville
International Port
JaxPort
Port of Gold
international shipping
National Transportation Policy

hanjin

10 December, 2008

Aircraft Carrier Battle Rages on the East Coast of Florida

A Norfolk Nightmare?

Zeros, Kates? Foxbats? Bears? Converted Cropdusters?

REMEMBER, IT'S ALWAYS

DECEMBER 6, 1941

- 0700

DECEMBER 7

COULD BE JUST HOURS AWAY

Disperse the Fleet, a move to Mayport, Kings Bay, Charleston, Key West, Pensacola, is a move toward national security.

Norfolk could always remain the fleet service station for all major overhaul and repair.

Imagine if you will, a country dumb enough to place all of it's major capital ships all in one port. What if, for example, one was to place nearly the whole Pacific Fleet in Pearl harbour? Certainly times have changed, nobody is expecting any B-5-N-2Kate Torpedo Bombers to suddenly appear in the Sky's over Hawaii.

What if Admiral Kimble was right, and the threat would have been from Japanese Terrorists? Could a well placed bomb in the USS Utah or Arizona produced the same results? Certainly they could. Hit the ships magazine and thousands of bombs will either detonate, or fly through the air while detonating to rain down on everything for miles around. Horror of horrors.

Here in Jacksonville's Port of Gold, we have so many things happening on the maritime side, it's hard to keep up with the daily announcements. New channels, turning basins, container yards, warehousing, wharfs, roads, railroads, in what resembles one of the worlds largest construction sites.

Mayport,founded in 1563, is a tiny suburban fishing village, that guards the mouth of the majestic St. Johns River, lighthouse and jetty's. Today, Mayport is wholly within the corporate bounds of The City of Jacksonville. It is also home to a large US Coast Guard station, a historic shrimp fleet and sundry seafood shops and restaurants, as well as the future home of JaxPort's new cruise ship terminal. But the thing Mayport is most known for is the US Naval Station Mayport.

NS Mayport, guards JaxPort, and is the 4TH fleet (South Atlantic and Caribbean)headquarters.

When the John F. Kennedy left Mayport last year, it left the huge carrier basin without a carrier.

Meanwhile in Norfolk, Virginia, the entire East Coast compliment of capital surface ships (4 carriers) is in one place. Norfolk Naval Base is at the end of a long narrow channel leading from the sea, a dozen or so miles from the shipping channels.

"Not to worry," says Virginia, "They'll never bomb this place..."

Sort of reminds me of the Yankee General during the War of Yankee Aggression, who rose in his saddle to rally his men and yelled, "Come on boys, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dis--." DEAD!

So Virginia has changed her tune, "Carriers will kill whales and destroy the whale migrations off the Florida Coast." Really? We're not exactly the whale headquarters of the Atlantic. In fact in 54 years - including in the Navy here, I've never seen a single whale off Jacksonville. Besides wouldn't a whale swimming off Florida follow the gulf stream up to Norfolk where that Chesapeake Bay dumps millions of gallons of fresh water and new sea life into the ocean?

Wouldn't the whales be 5 times (another carrier is about to be commissioned at Norfolk) more likely to be confused into sonar suicide by the constant movement of carriers in and out of Norfolk.

"WHAT VIRGINIA SAID..."

Carrier battle is really all about the money
Tamara Dietrich
December 10, 2008

Nobody can accuse Virginia's federal delegation of not pulling every rabbit out of the hat to try to thwart U.S. Navy plans to take one of our nuclear aircraft carriers and give it to Florida.

It's flawed military strategy, they argue. It's fiscally irresponsible. It will needlessly uproot thousands of Navy families.

And, as of Monday, it could harm whales and manatees.

Sens. Jim Webb and John Warner just released a statement of their "serious concerns" over the lack of sufficient review of the risks to sea life off the Florida coast if 5.2 million cubic tons are dredged at Naval Station Mayport near Jacksonville, Fla., to accommodate a nuclear-powered carrier.

It's an environmentally sensitive argument, but could it stick?

Doubtful.

When creatures of the earth run afoul of national security concerns, the boogeyman nearly always wins.

Sorry, whales and manatees.

Still, we can throw environmental concern in the mix and see if the totality of Virginia's argument persuades the Navy to change its recommendation and leave the carrier here.

Norfolk has four nuclear carriers, with a fifth set to be commissioned next month. We're the only nuclear port on the East Coast, which concerns the Navy enough to want to spend between half a billion and a billion dollars to retrofit Mayport as a secondary port and disperse the carriers.

They don't want another Pearl Harbor-style disaster inflicted by God nor man.

Still, the last few years have taught us that the unthinkable really isn't. Could God or man ever inflict enough damage on the Norfolk station itself to seriously hinder the comings and goings of our nuclear carriers? Might a secondary port — the West Coast already has them — be a wise idea?

These political prognosticators haven't a clue how tragic this scene could become. Have you ever stood on the fantail of an aircraft carrier and looked into the broken hearted eyes of a sex starved bull whale that just tried to mate with spinning propellers? Tragic indeed.

All of this environmental concern for Florida, from our neighbors in Virginia, is deeply appreciated. But it's appreciated in the abstract - like a bad case of hemorrhoids.

Could it be that someday in the future, we will stare in disbelief at our TV screens broadcasting the wreckage of our entire Atlantic Carrier force? We owe the Imperial Japanese Navy one debit of gratitude, they proved we are not untouchable by a lesser power. To ignore history is to be cursed to repeat it.

Frankly, even if we don't want to face it, 911 taught us, it that it's always December 6, 1941, and the clock is ticking...

03 December, 2008

Take A Tour Of The Port Of Gold - JAXPORT

So just where on earth is this "Port of Gold?"

Q. What if God created an East Coast - Atlantic port so far west that it was under Cincinnati?

A. He did, and it's called JAXPORT.

Hope you enjoy this photo tour of our booming waterfront.

JAXPORT Photo's Credit: The Jacksonville Port Authority Album

Jacksonville Port