BLUEPRINT FOR JAXPORT IS FOUND IN COMMUTER RAIL

Unlike other Florida cities, Jacksonville alone is a sea of railroad tracks. One time home to the Worlds Busiest Passenger Terminal (during the Great Florida Boom of the Roaring Twenty's), and certainly one of the largest Terminal Stations in the nation. 32 tracks, split roughly 60/40 stub and through, the great station served every passenger train entering or exiting the state (with few exceptions) until 1974.

Today freight trains of Norfolk Southern, CSX and Florida East Coast still rumble past the silent platforms and pedestrian tunnels. The Jacksonville Transportation Authority has an eye on Commuter Rail, and has completed the first two studies which have laid out a 90 mile starter system on three distinct rail lines, North, Southeast, Southwest.


Meanwhile over at JaxPort, the talk is all about building a new rail yard that they suppose will whisk away 2 Million Containers a year. Currently ranked number 19 in North America in container volume and number 2 in automotive imports, the new terminals built around trade with the Orient promise to rocket us into the number 3 or 4 position in the Nation. Dredge the river channel for Post Panamax ships, build the new rail yard, and everything will be rosy... Well not quite.

So here is a recent headline article in the Jacksonville Business Journal, taken from the recent seminars, breakfasts and meetings on JaxPort. They elude to the unknown that dredging and another railroad yard will be the fix we need. Their going to be sorely disappointed.

Game on for Jacksonville
Jacksonville Business Journal

Jacksonville’s economic development marching orders came across loud and clear at the Global Trade and Transportation breakfast this week: Find $500 million from federal, state and local government to dredge the St. Johns River to handle larger ships, make sure the Hanjin shipping company joins Mitsui to cement the city’s Asian trade ties, and finish the road and rail improvements needed to maximize the port’s ability to move cargo.

Succeed at these tasks and cement Jacksonville’s future as a premier port on the East Coast, while broadening the city’s economic base considerably. Or fail, and watch the ports of Savannah, Charleston and Norfolk eat our lunch. Yes, the choice is that clear-cut.

The river dredging is the linchpin. Here’s why:

The reason the shippers Mitsui and Hanjin want terminals here is to develop a hub for direct trade from Asia to the East Coast. The Panama Canal is being improved to allow larger cargo ships through, which are more cost-efficient for the shippers. The canal improvements should be done by 2014.

So what is the fix?

Blue Lines = Florida East Coast

Green Lines = CSXT

Black Lines = Norfolk Southern

Red Lines = Shortlines

Pink and Purple Lines = Abandoned rail subject to rebuilding

YELLOW LINES = Subject of this article and JTA/JPA Future North Line Commuter Rail District

The fix for JAXPORT is Commuter Rail North, plain and simple, the City buying the entire former CSX Kingsland Subdivision, and perhaps the Norfolk Southern's St. Johns River Terminal rail lines. From the Export Yard near the Stadium, Grand Crossing in the Westside through the Springfield Yard, Talleyrand Terminals, over the Trout River, to Blount Island, TriPac and all the way to Yulee. Getting JTA and JPA to create The Jacksonville RAIL Authority, and getting said Authority to quickly rebuild the former "S Line" between Union Terminal, and Springfield Yard, establishing Commuter Rail, at least as far North as the International Airport.

So what does JaxPort have to do with Commuter Trains and railroads? Glad you asked. At this point over 1/2 of our port is locked into CSX. For all the railroad diversity we have downtown, the Florida East Coast and Norfolk Southern are effectively cut out of the game. Saying our port is served by 3 major railroads is misleading when more then half of the terminals are captive. What good is it to try and sell shippers on the 3 railroad package when CSX says it will take them 5 full days to move a box car from Blount Island on the City's Northside, the the FEC / NS interchanges near Jacksonville Terminal.

If the City of Jacksonville and FDOT bought the former Seaboard Air Line Mainline, replaced the missing link from Jacksonville Terminal to Springfield Yard (already in City hands), it would effectively open the door to ease traffic congestion. Moreover it could all be operated as the JaxPort Railroad, a terminal road with neutral switching access by all carriers. Who needs a new rail yard when we already have the largely empty Springfield Yard which could easily be rehabilitated into a first class container facility. Who needs a one railroad port, when we already have plans for Commuter Rail on those same tracks? Why not bust the port wide open and create a quick, responsive, shortline/terminal road.

Not only would CSX retain every carload that any customer currently requests via a CSX routing, The Florida East Coast and Norfolk Southern wouldn't have to bypass the Port and hustle everything to the new Titusville Intermodal facility in order the expedite shipments. Moreover by linking Port/ACE + Freight Railroad/FRA + Transit/FTA + Commuter Rail/FRA + Station Security/DHS, and beautification/FDOT, we open hundreds of more avenues by which to obtain those vital federal grants.

Then, and only then, will we be able to honestly claim we have 3 railroad service choices for our port shippers. Only then will we be able to control the destiny of our Commuter Rail and Passenger Terminal. The day that the first RDC car rumbles over the Trout River and the big diesels of FEC or NS freely mix with CSX out at Tri-Pac, JaxPort and JTA will have come of age.

TAMPA STREETCAR TO EXPAND

Large double truck Birney type car is leading Tampa's open car through Channelside.

Tampa Bay Online reports that the Hillsboro Area Regional Transit (HART) has received federal stimulus money to expand the TECO streetcar line.

About $1 million, will go toward extending the streetcar into downtown. The nearly $5 million project is poised to begin this summer. The board approved a contract with Kimmins Contracting Corp. this morning.

HART wants to extend the streetcar system about four blocks, from outside the Tampa Convention Center to Whiting Street, in the hope of boosting ridership between downtown, the Channelside District and Ybor City. Officials said the project will take about nine months.

KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN COMING TO JACKSONVILLE?

Is this a sign of the mega-railroad of the near future? Norfolk Southern + Kansas City Southern + Florida East Coast, would be one hell of a marriage. Such a merger would create a line from New England to Central Mexico, and from Kansas City to Miami. Of course there is no official word or even a good roumor that this might come about, but with the railroad industry continuing to be riding high, adding capacity and miles, anything could happen. Jacksonville's transportation watchers will enjoy seeing the occasional colorful Kansas City Southern Diesels rolling through our City. Someone at the Chamber of Commerce needs to remind KCS and NS where the nations fastest growth port is... Got wheat and corn? We have ships, lots and lots of ships.

Kansas City Southern Railway, Florida East Coast and Norfolk Southern Railway on March 30 began offering container and trailer service from Dallas to the Norfolk Southern - Florida East Coast, new Titusville, Fla., terminal. Traffic is routed over KCSR from Dallas to Meridian, Miss.; and over NS from Meridian to Jacksonville, and the Floridca East Coast from Jacksonville to Titusville. Previously, KCSR moved central Florida-destined intermodal shipments to Meridian, and NS moved the loads from Meridian to the Norfolk Southern's massive intermodal terminal in Jacksonville's Simpson Yard, where it was trucked to various distribution centers. The new routing provides intermodal marketing companies and asset providers a more cost-effective option, and enables KCSR to be more competitive with over-the-road carriers, the Class I said.

On The Grow In The Port of Jacksonville

Culled from the Jacksonville and the Charlotte NC Business Journal the following articles which give our readers an idea of things to come. With the second new Oriental Terminal moving into construction, it seems the sky is the limit. Even in these bad economic times, Jacksonville seems to have at least one guiding light. JaxPort.

Monday, April 6, 2009, 1:48pm EDT
Fascination embarks record number of passengers from Jacksonville
Jacksonville Business Journal

The Jacksonville Port Authority’s cruise terminal set a record last week when 2,623 passengers embarked on Carnival Cruise Lines’ Fascination cruise to Half Moon Cay and Nassau, Bahamas.

The previous record for a single cruise was 2,539 passengers, set earlier this year. The record-breaking cruise comes after the authority pulled back on its plans to build a $60 million terminal in Mayport Village to focus on its cargo business and see how the cruise industry weathers the recession.


Port of Jacksonville traffic edges up
Jacksonville Business Journal

The amount of traffic through the Port of Jacksonville in fiscal year 2008 increased by 1 percent to nearly 8.4 million tons, compared to 2007, according to its recently released annual report.

The port remains the nation’s second busiest vehicle handling port and 12th busiest container port.

The authority’s operating revenue increased by 6.2 percent to $42.4 million.

Its operating expenses increased by $5 million to $30 million, while its operating income fell from $14.5 million to $12 million.

Roll-on-roll-off traffic — mainly cars, trucks and heavy equipment — increased by 7 percent to its record level of about 567,000 units.

Bulk cargo, which includes crushed limestone and other aggregates, increased by nearly 10 percent to about $2.5 million tons.

Breakbulk cargo, which includes lumber, paper and steel, fell about 18 percent to 950,000 tons.

Container traffic remained steady at about 3.6 million tons.

GO TO THE BACK OF THE BUS - OVER THE TOP IN JACKSONVILLE

COULD JTA BE A PIONEER?

For many years the phrase "Go to the back of the bus," had a terrible and racist connotation to it. Images of Ms. Rosa Parks, refusing to surrender her seat, and the subsequent race riots of the 1960's. From that point on, the terms used to describe poor bus service came to be either, "The back of the bus," or "The short bus".

According to City records, The Jacksonville Traction Company, was successful in ousting the segregation laws by 1930. At that time most of the States of the Southeastern part of the country had strict racial segregation on all public transportation. A recent visit to the Texas Electric Railroad Museum in Plano (north of Dallas) allowed me to see first hand some small brass flag like devices mounted over the rear passenger seats in the coach. When one pulls the lever down a etched sign drops out of the wall that says simply "COLORED".

Commuters as far west as Dallas were apparently separated well into the 1940's, 50's or early 60's. Not so on the true deep south streetcars in Jacksonville. The fact growing up in Jacksonville in this same era, I recall the typical fuss on the bus was who was going to get to sit in the back of the bus! Somehow, perhaps starting with our streetcar routes, we were "Back of the Bus pioneers."







Once again we are toying with a back of the bus experience. As one of the most sprawled cities in the nation, largest in land mass in the lower 48 states, we have some pretty painful commutes. Among the leading congestion area's are service to our beach cities within Duval County, Orange Park in Clay County and Ponte Vedra in St. Johns County. There is simply no way to get to these bedroom communities via bus or car without spending an hour or so stuck in near gridlock.

12 years ago JTA took delivery on 3 MCI (Motor Coach Industries) over the road - Commuter Configured - Motor Coaches. No mere city bus these are the thoroughbred, air suspended, inter-city style rolling salons. People scoffed at the idea that the high rollers in places like Ponte Vedra or Sawgrass would ever ride the bus. Then they tried them out in a joint demonstration program between MCI and JTA.



So what did Jacksonville think about them? Here are the surveys...

WS50 Free Ride Survey Results:

9 Total completed Surveys.


Did you like your ride?

Responses: 9 Yes

0 No


Comparable to other JTA buses:

Responses: More comfortable, Quiet, Nice, Climate Controlled, Smooth Ride, Cleaner, Smells Nice.


Like Most?

Responses: Comfort, Reclining Seats, Cleanliness, Quite, Smoother Ride, More Room, Climate Controlled, Spacious.


Like Least?

Responses: No Stewardess, Intercom System, NOTHING, Smell.


Other Comments: It was great, thanks for the free week. We want this bus permanent on WS50! Better bus for 30 minute trip. Great job. Nice to have this bus all the time. Please add TV’s to bus. Would be more inclined to ride bus with a bus like this on route.


BH50 Free Ride Survey Results

37 Total Completed Surveys.


Did you like your ride?

Responses: 37 Yes

0 No


Comparable to other JTA buses:

Responses: Wonderful, Better, Great Smell, Ride, Step Above, Don’t Compare, Smoother, Less Noise, Personal Space, Clean, Enjoyable, Green to the Environment, The Bomb, No Comparison, Nice Seats, Convenient, Better, More Seats, Want to see it in Service Soon, Computer Compatible, Less Noise, Cozy, Love the Details, Seems like a faster ride.


Like Most?

Responses: Seats, See more Sites, Cleanliness, Individual Lights, Quiet, Comfort, The Driver, Smooth, Coach Style, Luggage Bins, Leg Room, Nice Seats, Reclining Chairs, Electrical Outlets, EVERYTHING, Look, Smell, Fun,


Like Least?

Responses: NOTHING, Overhead Lights, Knowing it Won’t Stick Around, Narrow Isles, Entrance Steps, Not Equipped for Handicapped, Narrower Seats.


Other Comments: Thank You! Awesome Bus. BH50 is GREAT! Just thanks a lot! Wish all buses were as nice as this. Keep providing better service. Do not change this bus. With increased taxes, this is what JTA should be like. Want this bus permanent. Get more like this. I like the ride. Please keep this bus on route. Let’s keep going JTA, Thank You! Thank You. We need this everyday. Get more buses like this. We need more of these buses, please!


X2 Free Ride Survey Results:

29 Total completed Surveys.


Did you like your ride?

Responses: 29 Yes

0 No


Comparable to other JTA buses:

Responses: Quite, Roomier, Better, Nicer, Smoother Ride, Clean, No Ads on Windows, New Seats, No Comparison, Quieter, Cleaner, Superior, Additional Accessories, Heater works, This is the best, Smell good.


Like Most?

Responses: Seats, Smooth Ride, Very Pleasant, Quieter, Smoother Ride, Seats, It was new and smelled great!, Quite, Heater Works, Reclining padded seats, Reclining Seats, No wind noise, Reading Lights, Comfortable, Blue Isle Lights, Roomier, Bright and Clean, Great suspension, Kudos, High Back Seats, Reading Lights, Adjustable Vents, Smells Good.



Other Comments: Good to have new bus. You’re doing a great job! Love it! Overhead storage is seldom used. Very nice. Please consider adding to X2 route! We want TV’s showing news, sports, etc. Please remove ads from windows.Buses like this would encourage riders. Keep this bus!



X4 Free Ride Survey Results:

8 Total completed Surveys.


Did you like your ride?

Responses: 8 Yes

0 No


Comparable to other JTA buses:

Responses: No comparison, Clean, Comfy seats, New, Nice, Smooth ride, Likes handles, and reclining seats, Delux.


Like Most?

Responses: Relaxing, Smell, Comfy, Good condition, Everything, Tall backs, Cushioned seats, Quite, Clean, Lighted interior, Nice Bell, No PSAs.


Like Least?

Responses: Hope lights and AC vents last longer, Driver could not operate the AC, Not enough leg room.


Other Comments: I will only ride this bus or one comparable!



That last comment, "I will only ride this bus or one comparable" says a volume about what is wrong with a City Bus on a long commute and what is right about a proper vehicle. As often happens on long commutes into suburbia the neighborhood end point may be higher income, white collar, executive type, choice riders. These are people who normally would never darken the door of a transit bus.

Many managers and executives see their automobile as a sort of cool down asylum. Though it might mean sitting in traffic for a hour, it's a chance to listen to music or catch up on the news in a familiar, non threatening environment. But what if we could do better? What if he or she could watch the TV news on the way home? What if they could catch up on their notes? Work an hour on the Laptop? Play a game? Use the restroom? Get a cup of coffee? Hold a meeting? Eat a pastry? Wash your hands? Sleep? What if all of this could be done while moving down the freeway in complete security?

While the brand name of the coach may vary from agency to agency, according to local preference, this could be done with MCI, Prevost-Volvo, Silver Eagle, Van Hool or any other line of fine motor coaches.

Until now the deluxe coach has been the exclusive world of the upper end charter and tour business. Maybe it's time for a change. Jacksonville is leading the way in this area, by considering a completely new type of coach.



Maybe it's time for a hybrid, part commuter and part railroad lounge car? Ever heard it said that more major business deals have been brokered in the lounge cars of the New York area commuter trains then any other place on earth? Then why has it taken the industry so long to catch that attraction and wrap it up in a coach? While the idea is still in the developmental stage, it's interesting to speculate on the merits of this concept. Indeed if it's ordered in Jacksonville, it won't be a ride but more like a destination. Imagine the possibilities. Go to the back of the Bus? I can't wait.

Photos courtesy of MCI, PREVOST CAR - Volvo, SILVER EAGLE

What if Amtrak Catches Jacksonville with it's Terminal Down?

Bringing back the last great station in the Southeast

In a great update from the Treasure Coast Palm, it appears that the long awaited Amtrak - Florida East Coast Route might be rolling through the city while we're still doing studies of our studies. The Terminal downtown (now called the Prime Osbourne Convention Center) sits empty except for the occasional boat, gun or home show. Just under 80,000 Square Feet of new space that could be recycled into a condensed multi-modal Terminal. The great part of this idea is that we wouldn't touch a single wall of the original Head House Station, leaving it to reopen for Passengers.

Here's the run on the progress with the FEC RY:




This scene would remain the same with either plan


Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council to request stimulus money for passenger train service

By Jim Turner,
Tuesday,
March 17, 2009

Treasure Coast leaders hope to get passenger train service back on the Florida East Coast rails with federal economic stimulus money.
The Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council intends to ask Gov. Charlie Crist and Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Kopelousos, along with the area’s Legislative and Congressional delegations, to support efforts to use about $100 million in federal relief money for Amtrak to bring passenger service back to the FEC tracks between Jacksonville and Miami.
“It’s not a new idea, but it’s still a good one,” said Mike Busha, executive director of the planning council. “We’re trying to expand people’s options for getting around without having to spend so much money or energy.”
Amtrak and the FEC were close to a deal to put the rail service through the Treasure Coast in 2002, with stations to sprout up in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. But the proposal was quashed at the time because of questions over Amtrak spending and ridership.
But as gas prices rose the past two years, the service’s budget was doubled. Earlier this year, $8 billion in stimulus money was announced for developing new high-speed rail service nationwide, and Vice President Joe Biden on Friday announced that $1.3 billion in additional stimulus money would go to the government-owned service.
Included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act announced by Biden is $10.5 million to construct a new station for the Auto Train in Sanford.
State DOT Planning and Policy Analysis Administrator David Lee said Florida officials are awaiting the federal government to provide criteria for the high-speed corridor projects.
Busha said returning passenger service to the tracks along the eastern side of the Treasure Coast would improve transportation in the region, which translates into better business opportunities and improved quality of living.
“It’s building a mobile network, very attractive, low-stress, low-energy transportation system,” he said. “It’s very attractive to investors when they see a region that has all its basis covered, not just by the private automobile.”
Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and Stuart were all once stops on the line put down by Henry Flagler in the 1890s and local leaders believe the downtown in each area could be used for new stations.
But the Treasure Coast isn’t the only area seeking money for passenger rail service.
Led by state Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, supporters of the $1.2 billion, 61-mile commuter rail project to run from DeLand in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to Poinciana in Osceola, will have a midday rally Wednesday in Tallahassee.
Amtrak’s current route north goes from Miami to West Palm Beach before branching west to Okeechobee, over to the Orlando area and then moving back east to Jacksonville, where the route mostly hugs the East Coast through New York City, stopping in Portland, Maine.
Treasure Coast passenger rail history
• 1892-94: Rail service was extended south from Daytona, running along the Indian River, by Henry Flagler.
• 1968: Passenger service was discontinued on the Florida East Coast tracks because of labor unrest.
• The plan to expand passenger rail service using the FEC rail lines was first proposed in 1994 and revived in 2000. There was talk about expanding to the Treasure Coast by 2003.
• Negotiations between Amtrak and the Florida Department of Transportation stalled in 2002 after the government said the rail company no longer could add new routes.
• 2008: Local officials asked Gov. Charlie Crist and Congressional representatives to ask Amtrak to include the Treasure Coast in a study of reintroducing passenger service on the FEC lines between West Palm Beach and Miami.

Facing the former ticket counters in the empty Head House "Convention Center".



The Front of the JTC as engineered by JTA and FDOT note that the tracks on the far left would be lowered to creek level, someone missed the story of the two previous stations that were flooded out. Almost 400,000 Cu Yd's of fill and "they" want to remove it?

So it's getting close to "put up"or "shut up" time.


If we keep the "Prime Osbourne Center" where it is, our Transportation Center will forever be crippled. It's the railroad and bus equal to building a new fast food restaurant at the junction of runway 4L 22 R and 9L 27 R at Chicago O'Hara International Airport.

The City of Jacksonville, has just recently started making moves to enlarge the Convention Center, and thankfully most of these ideas get it out of the surface Transportation Center of Florida. Se la vie.






The State and JTA rendering with a scattered Transportation "Center" built around a useless Convention Center. When we looked at a redesign we didn't change a single element.

Everything done up to this point is planned around that poorly located, too small to compete, albatross of a Convention Center. So the resulting drawings with their several elements have been scattered over a 5 block area of La Villa in Downtown Jacksonville. IF we follow any of these plans which build around the historic train Terminal, we are going to build America's most sprawled "center"; a place where passengers regularly drag their bags 3 blocks up the hill.

Ennis Davis, an Urban Planner, and myself sat down at the dinner table and I laid out the concept. What if we move the Convention Center and use the same design plans and elements that the City and State have already done? What if we relocated those buildings into a dense, compact Transportation Village? Ennis thought it was a pretty cool idea and went to work putting the parts together.

The new plan doesn't touch a single plot of new ground North of the Depot. It would remove about 2/3 of the new exhibition hall behind the station and recycle the remaining part into offices and Intercity Bus Station. Everything else fits neatly on the grounds between the Depot and the Freeway to the West. The only other change which is going to be required no matter what happens, is the new Lee Street viaduct will have to be re-rebuilt to obtain clearance for 8 to 12 through tracks, hopefully without removing another spade of fill dirt.




The Layout Above is the plan concieved by Robert Mann and Drawn in Rendering by Ennis Davis


Skyway, photographed from Jacksonville Terminal, it's a snap to get downtown or to the hotels.

So here comes Amtrak and the FEC Ry, the Governor, The Treasure Coast, The Gold Coast and the whole Florida delegation... Where the heck is Jacksonville? We should be a the head of this pack as we stand the gain the most from it. It's do it or lose it time.

Photos: JTA, Ennis Davis, Metro-Jacksonville.com, Robert Mann

jacksonville transportation authority
amtrak
florida east coast

FERRY READY FOR BUCCANEER TRAIL CROWDS

Welcome home Jean. Early this morning March 5, 2009, the magnificent mid sized ferry "Jean Ribault", returned to regular service across the deep shipping channel at the mouth of the Saint Johns River, at Mayport, Jacksonville.

• She was sorely missed by those many thousand commuters, fishermen, beach bums, and vacationers that venture along The Buccaneer Trail, Florida highway A-1-A. For those in far away places think of the famous Pacific Coast Highway, 101, in California with a definite Margaretaville influence. Without the Mayport Ferry, it simply had a great big hole in the middle of the journey.
  
  New fares and schedule for the St. Johns River Ferry, effective Nov. 1:
  FARES
  Pedestrian/bicycle.........................$1
• Motorcycle......................................$3
• 2-axle vehicle.................................$5
• Each additional axle......................$1
• Passenger bus...............................$10
• Coupon book (20 crossings).......$60
  
  SCHEDULE

Mayport Village to Ft. George Island:
6 a.m., 6:20 a.m., 7 a.m. and continuing on the hour and half hour, with final departure at 7 p.m.
7 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8 a.m. and continuing on the hour and half hour, with final departure at 8:30

Interesting that this was simply a regular "medical" check-up required by law. The Jacksonville Port Authority which has graciously operated the vital service since Governor Crist flushed the funding from the State of Florida. The grand little ship should have returned on Feb. 23, but once in dry dock at Atlantic Marine the inspectors noted greater problems then anticipated in regular maintenance, so she was laid up for the extra days to make her whole again.

While the details of the added work are not known all is ship shape and she is once again crossing paths with giant container, freighter, tanker and passenger cruise ships, offering some of the greatest maritime views of a busy shipping channel to be found anywhere.

The first European Settlement in North America was founded when Frenchman Jean Ribault and the Huguenots that were with him established a village at the Mouth of a mighty river. It was called Mayport, and it's comforting to know that after 450 years, his name is still sailing on these waters.

Bus and Tour operators should pay attention to this ship and it's highway, from Fernandina's Centre Street, Fort Clinch, and snow white beaches, within the next 100 miles you'll find:

Southbound American Beach (America's first African - American Beach), Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island State Park, Big Talbot Island, Little Talbot Island, Huguenot Beach, Fort George Island The Timucuain National Preserve, Kingsley Plantation, Huguenot Beach, Seafood, THE FERRY, Mayport, more Seafood and fishing fleet, Naval Basin 4Th Fleet Mayport, US Coast Guard Station Mayport, Hanna Park, Atlantic Beach - Neptune Beach Downtown , Jacksonville Beach Sea walk, Jacksonville Beach Pier, Amphitheater, Historical Museum, Ponte Vedra Beach, Sawgrass PGA home course and HQ, Guano State Park, Tolomato River Park, Vilano Beach, St. Augustine, Castillo De San Marco's National Park, French Quarter, Spanish Quarter, Lighthouse, Lighthouse Park Pier, St. Augustine Beach, Franklin B Butler Park, Crescent Beach, Fort Matanzas National Park, Marineland, Washington Oaks Gardens and rocky beach, Flagler Beach, Flagler Beach Municipal Pier, Gamble Rodgers State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach. Whoever said "There is nothing to do in Jacksonville," had obviously missed
A-1-A.

Great job Jax Port and just in time for the March madness, Spring Break and Summer fun in Jacksonville.

Monorail Ephemeral Sequences of Pure Ambient Transport.

I would like if I may to take you on a strange journey.

It seemed a fairly ordinary night when

I awoke early eager to talk about a new system of bicycle lanes in my section of the city. It's another crisp spring day in Jacksonville, cobalt blue sky's and a slight breeze in a cool 60 degree temperature. Since my drive from San Jose isn't that far away, I don't regularly use the alternative transit modes provided. I rather enjoy having my car "Skyway Close" for any business that may suddenly inspire me to head out of town. Parking my Avanti at the corner next to the Florida East Coast Railway and Atlantic Avenue crossing has been my early morning habit since they opened the new parking garage that vaults the railroad.

On the West side of the station, a steady stream of buses arrived and departed to and from neighborhoods, offices and industries throughout the city. It's easy to hear the distinct Detroit Diesel on the Silver Eagle motor coaches that come rolling in on the express lines from JTB, Beach and Atlantic, they sound different and offer so much more comfort then the usual city bus fare. The really sneaky buses are the Trolley Coaches that come humming up from Mandarin on the San Jose Bus lanes. No pollution and no more sound then our Skyway, these giant articulated coaches make the trek on several of the city's primary feeder routes.

The coffee and tea boutique at the Atlantic Commuter Station was crowded with a mix of every culture, class, race and purpose, though this particular line seems a bit heavy on the suit and tie or hospital uniform club. Several times each day the Southbank Line is called the "green train" due to the number of green uniformed medical professionals using it to access the Baptist Medical Center stations.

As a Southbound JAXTRAX Commuter Rail train rolls in on track 1, platform A, the early crowd is mesmerized by the alternately flashing headlights and JAXTRAX's unique Mars or Gyro-Lites. I have to confess watching this early morning train stop at the Atlantic Commuter Station while heading Southbound seemed an exercise in futility, yet as many as a dozen persons boarded headed to jobs or homes in the suburbs. I was having so much fun just watching the crowds that I hardly noticed the sleek 6 car monorail train sitting on the other side of platform A. But somewhere during the arrival and departure of the JAXTRAX show, the doors had been opened and it was now in the final stages of loading. Jumping on just before the doors shut seems to be a personal trademark of mine.

In the velvet darkness
Of the blackest night
Burning bright.
There's a guiding star
No matter what or who you are.

As usual my Skyway train, the star of this story, left the station a minute late, causing the inbound train to hold at the station switch until we got out. At least it wasn't me this time, but a group of German? businessmen that seem to have just discovered this little Jacksonville miracle. Then again perhaps not, as they disembark in the patio level station and beer garden of the Hilton Hotel. It dawns on me that like so many other visitors, they were simply aboard for the novelty of the small but most active monorail network in the United States. Already the gardens are full of guests or business people enjoying their special eggs Benedict.

It seems that we barely move until we are in the older Kings Avenue Station. Some of the local buses, especially those that shuttle from downtown just over the bridges to tap the edge of the Southbank business district, are already busy picking up passengers and dropping off others for the Skyway trek. Since this station was instrumental in a plan to make the buildings on Kings Avenue double faced, it has become a more popular stop. Those little boutiques and restaurants now face both the street and the Skyway, and it has brought both a great deal of life.

Our signal, visible from the front car blinks to green as another Southbound train rolls past on the other track. We pull North and click - clack through the switches to the Miccosukee Nations giant casino and Southern Rock Hall of Fame at a site I remember as an old JEA power plant, in fact it seems that in my earliest memories, there was once a shipyard there. We continue to bank around to the West and parallel to the St. Johns River. At a station called Riverplace, a new high rise is taking shape. For the time being the Skyway doesn't stop as the building is being built with the Skyway Station in it's atrium. A short skywalk will carry pedestrian traffic from the new Southbank Tower to the new Crown Plaza Hotel. All too soon the speculation ends as we clear the temporary plywood tunnels and emerge on our final approach to the Prudential Junction Station.

At Prudential Junction the Train loses most if not all of the medical professionals and a few more passengers. This being a unique three level station allows folks to access the mezzanine floor of the Prudential Headquarters building just one floor below our arrival level. The entire floor was converted into a micro-mall with several shops and tiny food vendor businesses that thrive off of a broad demographic mix of traffic. With the Naval and History museums, riverwalk and Friendship Park and the spectacular fountain, this station even does a brisk tourist trade. A local joke has it that JTA will someday install a roller coaster from the 3 level station to the park. Jaxon's are always teasing our guests when they ask for directions down on the riverwalk or park area, "Did you walk or ride the roller-coaster over here?"

As soon as our train departs from Prudential Junction Station we click or clatter through another switch and bank off to the Northwest. An inbound train from Baptist hospitals stations and Aetna is waiting for us to clear so it can shuttle in load and reverse it's direction back on it's single track line to the medical center.

Accelerating to a faster clip we no climb up and over the beautiful St. Elmo Acosta Bridge. Moving the blue lights off of this bridge and having local artists create two large orange colored gateways up and over the Skyway some 90 feet apart and connected by a fixed "bridge" resembling a light artistic version of the original Acosta Bridge or the current Alsop Bridge on Main Street, when it is in the lifted position. It's just a remarkable piece of work all of which has orange lighting at night just shouts a salute to Jacksonville's earliest and loudest transit advocate. Yes from the Beach Road now called Beach Boulevard to a never built high speed electric Interurban Railway and beach trolley buses, Acosta was the fighting commissioner of the late 1920's. The remodeled Acosta also has two other notable features, a protected bicycle and pedestrian lane, as well as water curtain formed by tubes and jets hidden up under the pedestrian cantilever on the Downtown or East Side. Whenever the City puts on a fireworks show or any other nighttime event downtown, laser projections send giant life like cartoons, and images dancing along the river under that bridge. I believe we claim that at times, the Acosta Bridge is the worlds largest movie screen.

As we leave the bridge, we are quite low to the ground to duck under the on ramps for the auto portion of the bridge, then we quickly rise and pass over Bay Street. Here we clatter through the metal moving beam switches of the Skyway maintenance, Brooklyn and Riverside Avenue line. As we are on what is today considered the mainline of the Skyway, there is another 6 car train waiting for us to pass so it can follow us off the Riverside line. We ourselves continue to roll toward Central Station as we turn back east into the Central Business District.

Central Station received a complete remake and today functions as much a part of the Omni Hotel and Parking Garage or CSX Tower Two as it does a commuter station. It certainly still forms a major transfer point with the people headed for Bay Street Station, Jacksonville Terminal and Transportation Center, Brooklyn - Riverside, or Hemming Plaza, Rosa Parks, FCCJ, or Shand's Medical Center. The new 3Rd floor deck of the Station has a large balcony that rings the second floor boarding platforms, a quick trip up the elevator or escalator takes on inside the aforementioned buildings and all the sundry small businesses that have sprouted in that new balcony-skywalk section that ties it all together.

Pulling away on the East Line our train continues above Bay Street to the unique Laura Street Station that is modeled after a Chicago EL Train from a 1935 movie. This mostly steel station vaults the entire intersection of Laura and Bay, with entry's to the Modis and Bank of America Buildings on the lower levels and all under a roof. I think this inspiration came from the rebuilding and beautification that the city did on the Laura Strip back when the prohibition of parking meters went into effect.

When we proceed we pass another train inbound from the East Side of downtown and at this early hour, it would appear that it carry's just as many passengers as mine started out with. We roll into the Newnan Station next to the Convention Center and the new InterContinental Hotel, which along with the Convention Center extend out and cover all of the old municipal or county property's along Bay. Newnan is the station where the streetcars come up from Water Street, much to the delight of the hotel and convention crowd on their way out to the fairgrounds, ball parks or historic Springfield. It's also possible to catch the streetcar here that loops back past the glass and steel county courthouse that finally got completed by a new mayor a couple of years ago. While my jury's still out on my feelings about it, the mayor did say he was going to change the design and complete it, something he did in record time. With that outside steel frame and black and silver metal work it stands like a giant on that edge of the business district. But to me it still looks like something from the set of the famous movie "Metropolis," or what I 'd call "a nightmare in an Erector Set".

Catherine Street Station is in the midst of the new downtown focal point. For it's here in a site once dominated by a JSO Police Station and Jail that a new version of a long ago proposed building called the St. John is topping out at 76 floors. Destined to be the crown jewel of Jacksonville, the Skyway even jogs through the future hotel portion of the building with a station that is going to look like something out of a Disney Space Movie set. In fact two stations on this newer extension have taken on these maverick proportions. Now that The long awaited "Shipyards" trio of towers has finally been built near the foot of A. Phillip Randolph Boulevard, it's a journey that must be experienced to be believed. On entering the Shipyards the Skyway rolls past an open door with air jets that keep the building climate controlled. Once past the jets one is suddenly plunged into the sea. Incredible as this may seem the new aquarium complex was worked into the Hotel portion of the Shipyards and our train pierces through the living sea within a glass tube. After the station, which is built so that passengers can pass onto a beautiful New Orleans Style balcony or down spiral stairs or elevator to street level where the Randolph-Gateway Mall streetcar line ends. It is going to be interesting to see how the future St. Johns building beats this for pure appeal but that is exactly what they claim they are going to do.

The darkness must go

Down the river of nights dreaming

Flow morphia slow

Let the sun and light come streaming Into my life.

Alas it's the end of my ride, the train pulls out for the anticipated crowds of commuters parked around the Municipal Stadium, but I can't see them, my vision is getting blured. I go out on The Shipyards balcony for a cappuccino. I'll sit and try to watch while I catch up on my rest. How I'd love to see the streetcar pull into this station this morning but my clock is ringing on the table. Oh God, REALITY! Just a tired old used up transportation planner and civic activist in a common sense yet delusional dream. Time to wake up and shake the dust off, there are critical decisions to be made this morning. Do I gird myself up for a mind numbing breakfast of Rebel Yell? Do I choose Southern Comfort? Do I dress for another day of warfare against Meso-proterozoic Municipal Morons, Cretaceous–Tertiary Transit Dinosaurs, and plenty of Pleistocene Planners. I was simply having the most pleasant dream of the Jacksonville that "could - be." Now I'm disgusted that I've awakened to the reality of 2009 and the sorry state our city and our country is in. Damn them all. Worse still, I don't even own an Avanti!

It's all over

Your mission is a failure.

Your life style's too extreme.

I'm your new Commander.

You are now my prisoner.

We return to Transylvania

Prepare the transit beam.

Comic excerpts from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (A Jacksonville Skyway Reality)

"Jacksonville" will build Orlando Commuter Rail!

In many ways Portland and Jacksonville are twin Sisters in different worlds, Portland get's it and Jacksonville doesn't.
Here we sit in apparent political blindness awaiting something, anything to happen with our own commuter rail plans in Jacksonville. Suddenly over the air comes the word that SUNRAIL the meaningless name for the Orlando Commuter Rail project will be built by a Jacksonville firm.

The bid was just awarded.



$163.28 Million dollars was the bid from Jacksonville based Archer Western Contractors/Rail Works, a partnership of the Parsons Transportation Group and TransSystems. There were two other bids which came in some millions higher. The work includes designing and building sections of double tracks along the rail corridor as well as building a signal system, concrete station platforms, several improved rail crossings and a control center in Sanford.

The project planners built in a give and take 15% contingency in the event the costs spiral above the estimates, as indeed they did. But in the case of our Jacksonville firm, it was only a difference of $5 Million, close enough for government work.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that: Archer Western likely will sign a formal agreement with FDOT in March and probably will start hiring staff in April. If SunRail wins the approval of the Legislature during the session that starts next month, FDOT will purchase 61.5 miles of tracks from CSX by June 30, with construction starting as early Sept. 30.

So Orlando? Is big Sister to the North jelous? Not at all, we'll gladly finance it for you, build it for you, even operate it for you over those previously Jacksonville/CSX owned tracks, but do it ourselves? Why we don't even know how to spell RALE.

Perhaps it boils down to the culture of two completely different cities. Orlando has lived in Fantasy Land since 1965, selling the dream outside of the box. Back in Jacksonville, we've been more then happy to make the bricks, stir the asphalt and haul it to the site, but we've never even seen Fantasy Land. From inside our glass towers, smokestacks and wharves, it's hard to even imagine the approach of a fast new train.


Time to pull our collective heads out!

FLORIDA'S FATAL FLAW - NATIONAL ROAD TO HIGH SPEED DISASTER

Red Signals Shine Over High Speed Rails Magic Numbers

Well the first Transportation Stimulus Package from the joint House and Senate is in hand. In its original House of Representatives form there was a goodly sum of money for state sponsored Amtrak or other state rail passenger operations. In the second edition the sum for state operations was slashed but remained in the bill. Finally in the joint House-Senate form it was eliminated completely.

In this article I submit to you that killing funding for State sponsorship of passenger trains may lead to the complete failure of all of the High Speed Rail corridors. There was plenty of money for High Speed Rail Development in the final bill, and some of the HSR corridors may actually be built. However you build HSR, to appease politicians and connect dots on a map, it may now be doomed to a disastrous failure.

Why?

Because the United States of America continues to turn it's back on basic State and Interstate rail corridors, we may someday pay a hefty price. Your hometown, your city, your state all represent the grass roots of rail travel. Without these roots we can hardly expect HSR to be a magic bullet. It all starts with people, building a loyal rail passenger culture, then building on that culture until we graduate into the era of High Speed Rail. With typical American blind enthusiasm, we seem to have decided to skip the "passenger factor" in favor of building miles of show case railroad.

We have a national population which has grown up with a non-stop, over all obstacles, lap-top, tray table, mentality for travel. Look out the window? Why? All they see today are clouds. People don't even understand the concept of sitting back and relaxing in a lounge while the miles tick by under the floor. Why would I spend 7 hours on a train from Jacksonville to Miami? Why would I spend 8 hours on a train from Jacksonville to Atlanta? Even if High Speed Rail can cut those travel times in half, from city center to city center, it doesn't fit the rushing minds of the "jet set generation". As the old Amtrak commercial said, "America is getting into training..." We'll be sorry that Amtrak and the States didn't take this advice to heart and train up a generation on the rails.

We need to get building, but it's not what you think we need!

While I'd be first to agree that we need to get rolling on national passenger train services, I think it starts a bit closer to home. Every expert in the field says that the modern passenger train does better then air on the 350 mile (or less) segments, great observation, so where are the trains? This is the missing market and the missing funding for Amtrak, or the States. We don't have a single train running in those stage lengths from Jacksonville, (or most anywhere else). Look at the corridors around us for example:

Jacksonville-Miami (via the FEC)
Jacksonville-Miami (via the CSX)
Jacksonville-Tampa (via Orlando)
Jacksonville-Tampa (via Ocala)
Jacksonville-Ft. Myers
Jacksonville-Pensacola
Jacksonville-Birmingham
Jacksonville-Atlanta
Jacksonville-Charlotte

While a couple of these routes have long distance, inter-city passenger train service, most make do with a single train a day, while 7 out of these 9 corridors have no trains at all. How do people familiarize themselves with the comfort and convenience of regional passenger rail - if there IS no regional passenger rail. So how do I get to Charlotte? Atlanta? Macon? Montgomery? Mobile? Tallahassee? Memphis? Chattanooga? or Nashville? Provided it is the right time of day Amtrak might get you to Jacksonville. Leaving the Jacksonville Am-shack Station, one might survive the walk to a dollar store to purchase a cardboard sign and a magic marker because that's the closest thing to a ticket your going to get in Amtrak's SOUTH.

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step

Suddenly some "big idea man" from Washington D.C. walks onto the stage and we have instant High Speed rail with frequent services. These new trains jump into corridors that have been stripped of trains and buried by Amtrak funding. The question nobody is asking seems to be where will all these passengers come from? Generations of dead, sloppy or unfunded passenger service is hardly the way to teach people to abandon their automobiles. People don't know what railroad SERVICE is.

Amtrak advertises two Florida routes and two regular Florida trains daily. TWO. Two trains to the most popular single tourist city in the World (Orlando). Two to the number one tourism state (Florida). Two to America's best city for new business (Jacksonville). Two to the most famous beaches in North America, (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach). Even so, one of those two wanders all the way into Tampa on the West Coast then recrosses the State giving the passengers that distinct "Haven't we just seen this scenery?" feeling. Those passengers would be correct, rather then splitting the train in Jacksonville for both coasts, the train just runs 50 miles over to Tampa, then the same 50 miles right back out. This, by the way means Tampa-St. Petersburg, one of the Nation's largest and fastest growing metro area's has a grand total of ONE TRAIN DAILY. The scheduling genius has the two trains running back to back only a couple of hours apart, then the station agents lock the doors until tomorrows show. "Show" is exactly what it is too, no options, two trains, a single route north or south of Jacksonville will not create demanding masses clamoring for High Speed, or any other speed of rail.

Planning for track without planning for patrons leads to a dead end.

Before we run off the High Speed Rail cliff with an empty train, wouldn't it be wise to strike out for a return of basic regional rail passenger services? How do we know a High Speed Train will pack em' in, on the East Coast of Florida, when the same territory hasn't seen a passenger train since 1968? It's important to remember not only have these potential routes not seen trains but they haven't seen passengers. We must fund State and regional rail passenger services, and build toward a goal of High Speed Rail, rather then building High Speed Rail, and building toward a goal of passengers.

Alternatives to Highway's and Airport's, service, frequency, convenience, and comfort, should happen long before the first High Speed Rail ever goes in place.

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