Jacksonville area stiffed in competition for federal transportation dollars

[JeffreyS]

Jacksonville area stiffed in competition for federal transportation dollars

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-10-29/story/jacksonville-area-stiffed-competition-federal-transportation-dollarsBy Larry Hannan

Northeast Florida is not getting any love from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

While Central Florida has received billions in funding for high speed rail and Miami got millions for its port, Northeast Florida came out of a recent round of federal funding for transportation projects empty handed.

• The Jacksonville Transportation Authority failed to get money to build its regional transportation center.

• The Florida Department of Transportation didn’t get money to bring Amtrak service to the Florida East Coast tracks from Jacksonville to Miami.

•  The Jacksonville Port Authority didn’t get money for a container crane it wanted to put on Blount Island.

All three entities are heading back to the drawing board in an effort to get funding.

“We’re going to keep looking for every possibility we can find to get that funding,” said JPA spokeswoman Nancy Rubin.

Rubin was only speaking about the crane, which was estimated to cost $10 million, but her words also reflect the mentality of JTA and the state when it comes to their projects.

JTA plans to build the regional transportation center at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. It requested $50 million from the federal government for the first phase of the project, which is expected to cost $180 million. The center would house Amtrak, bus services, the Skyway and possibly commuter and high speed rail.

The $180 million would have come from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants, which doled out about $600 million this month for 42 capital construction projects and 33 planning projects.
Federal officials said they received nearly 1,000 applications for more than $19 billion in projects, so many worthy projects went unfunded.


However, the Port of Miami received $22.8 million for intermodal container rail service, while Orlando got $10 million to construct two miles of bus only lanes west of Interstate 4. The Manatee County Port Authority also received $9 million to construct a container terminal.


JTA Executive Director Michael Blaylock  said the agency will now shift its focus towards attracting private businesses into a partnership that will help build the regional transportation center.


In addition, the agency may also look to a new transportation funding bill that Congress is expected to pass in 2011.


“There may be some money in that bill that we could apply for,” Blaylock said.


Nazih Haddad,  state Transportation Department manager for passenger rail development, said the state planned to meet with the federal government soon to identify funding opportunities for the Amtrak train on FEC tracks. The project would cost about $250 million.


Haddad said the project could be done in phases, with two trains at first operating only in Florida. Existing Amtrak trains like the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor that go from Miami to New York would be added to the FEC track later after more money is secured.

The Silver Meteor goes through Orlando and takes nine hours from Jacksonville to Miami, and the Silver Star takes almost 11 hours and goes to Tampa before turning around and going to Miami.

State officials believe a Jacksonville-to-Miami route on FEC tracks could operate in six to seven hours, while also providing train stations to east coast cities like St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach and Vero Beach.

FEC officials have said they are open to Amtrak operating on its tracks but only if the companies freight operations are not impacted. That means the state will probably have to install a separate track for commercial service, which would be part of the $250 million cost.

An agreement with the state that would indemnify FEC from lawsuits in the event of a train accident is also likely to be a prerequisite for the company.

Scott Williams,  the railroad’s general counsel, said in 2009 that indemnification would have to be addressed before the railroad company allowed Amtrak to use its tracks.

The indemnification issue has been controversial, with a deal between CSX and Orlando over a commuter rail system nearly collapsing because of the issue earlier this year.

About $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money was awarded for rail projects, with $800 million going towards a planned high speed rail system from Tampa to Orlando, adding to a $1.25 billion expenditure the route previously got from the federal government.

larry.hannan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4470

]http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-10-29/story/jacksonville-area-stiffed-competition-federal-transportation-dollars]

[Timkin]

:/

[Coolyfett]

And Jax gets the loser treatment again, Isnt there other threads on this situation?? Im starting to wonder about Jacksonville future..The Leaders are just too relaxed...I dislike relaxed leadership.

[Dog Walker]

Well GOOD! 

Now they won't have the money to build that ridiculous "transportation center" of theirs or any of their other hair brained schemes. Maybe the folks doing the deciding in Washington took a look at JTA's plans, shook their heads sadly and trash canned the applications.

[Ocklawaha]

Well GOOD! 

Now they won't have the money to build that ridiculous "transportation center" of theirs or any of their other hair brained schemes. Maybe the folks doing the deciding in Washington took a look at JTA's plans, shook their heads sadly and trash canned the applications.

This would be correct except that the FEC RY/AMTRAK service between Jax and Mia went down in flames too, and it certainly had a resounding public campaign behind it... but... the administration is fixated on "flying trains" on freeways between airports. To make matters worse JTA still get's the money for BUS RAPID TRANSIT, why? Well because they gave out fried chicken to the NW Side of town and mounted a public disinformation campaign and the local press and politico's bought it hook-line-and-sinker. This is out of control from the doors of the TU AND JTA, all the way to the White House.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

A complete change in this administration is the only cure.....along with JTA's upper hierarchy!

[Jdog]

I think there wasn't even a submission for a Skyway extension (would that have hurt?).
So does that mean it's officially done? 

[thelakelander]

The political will of this city and JTA isn't their for a skyway extension. It's done until that changes.

[Ocklawaha]

It certainly wouldn't have hurt to ask for a couple of miles of Skyway extensions. The fact would have given us just one more item to lay before the Duval/N.fl delegation and demand WHY? I also would not agree that it is "finished," I'd rather consider it quit for lack of spinal fortitude!

OCKLAWAHA

[ChriswUfGator]

And Jax gets the loser treatment again, Isnt there other threads on this situation?? Im starting to wonder about Jacksonville future..The Leaders are just too relaxed...I dislike relaxed leadership.

Its that they are clueless.  Especially at the JTA.

When you are in competition for money and you want to win, you mount a public campaign.  You make your presentation amazing.  You get your local press to help you out. You canvass the mayor, the council, the legislative delegation. In short you get your ass to work and stop pretending that you only really want it if no one else needs it this weekend.

These idiots did this entire thing in the dark.  No communication to the press, no discussion with the blogs and activists that could have helped them. No public campaign.  No nothing.

That, and I'm not sure how wowed the USDOT possibly was with JTA's silly B(R)T and bus-based crap...

Orlando Tampa and Miami are in there with high speed rail proposals, and in comes JTA with a crappy bus rebranded as "BRT!" Must have gone over like a ton of bricks. How embarrassing.

[JeffreyS]

is anybody surprisedthat the sprawling transit campus was not seen by the feds as a good investment .  I would bet restoring our wonderful historic jacksonville terminal would have sparked more interest. 

[FayeforCure]

And Jax gets the loser treatment again, Isnt there other threads on this situation?? Im starting to wonder about Jacksonville future..The Leaders are just too relaxed...I dislike relaxed leadership.

Its that they are clueless.  Especially at the JTA.

When you are in competition for money and you want to win, you mount a public campaign.  You make your presentation amazing.  You get your local press to help you out. You canvass the mayor, the council, the legislative delegation. In short you get your ass to work and stop pretending that you only really want it if no one else needs it this weekend.

These idiots did this entire thing in the dark.  No communication to the press, no discussion with the blogs and activists that could have helped them. No public campaign.  No nothing.

Well, it's hard to mount a public campaign for more government spending, when the political philosophy of die-hard Republicans is AGAINST more government spending. The public would wonder about the two-faced look of such a campaign. Not much public support for increased government spending can be found anywhere in Jacksonville, hence always being the loser.

Really not that difficult to understand. In particular with the strong local tea party movement going on.

Public investment is totally booooed.

[simms3]

Were their matching funds in any of the proposals?  Especially the proposal for the transportation center?  I think the role of public support is to increase matching funds or at least persuade elected officials that public is on board enough for them to approve matching funds.

Atlanta did not win the Peachtree corridor streetcar line because it had no matching funds.  We provided originally $13M in matching funds for the King Center line and now we have provided the rest, so of course we won funding from the feds for that.

[Ocklawaha]

I agree with Faye on this one. Have any of you ever noticed the airport exit or the southbound ramp from US 1 to I 95? Jacksonville doesn't even cut the brush, trees and weeds... Parts of 95 downtown are a virtual sewer downtown, PERHAPS the next council field trip should be to BOCA, or CORAL SPRINGS or EVEN NOCATEE, so they could see how it's done.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

Ms Faye and Ock............I concur with both of yall's points! Public Funding should be an integeral part of any inhancement.........if anyone is not willing to put up money, why should the Fed's put up anything? Wether or not it is Fed money or local, either way it is taxpayer money, I want the most bang for my dollars! City's viewpoint appears to spend spend spend without any kind of game plan or end goal in mind and it shows! Could be one reason why we are $58 Million in the hole..............blame it on the unions all you want, still comes down to the City saying yes or no and most of the time, they do say yes without thinking it through!