Touring Jacksonville's S-Line Urban Greenway

[Metro Jacksonville]

Touring Jacksonville's S-Line Urban Greenway



A product of the Rails-to-trails Conservancy's Urban Pathways initiative, the S-Line Urban Greenway is Jacksonville's first dedicated urban bike path.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-jun-touring-jacksonvilles-s-line-urban-greenway

[vicupstate]

There is a 17.5 mile trail here in Greenville, SC that was a 'rails-to-trails' project.  It has been very successful.    Usage in the first year was 359,000 and jumped to 403,000 the second year.  For comparison sake, the County population is 467,000. 

One small town, Traveler's Rest,  has re-branded itself based on the trail [Baldwin, are you listening ?].  Numerous businesses have opened up along the trail there and in the city of Greenville, where the trail runs through the heart of the city, including Downtown.  Annual sales (from the businesses along it) has increased from $50,000 the first year to $400,000 in the second.

When done correctly, these type trails can be an economic development tool equal to any other tool a city can offer. 

The success of the trail, also helped lead to Greenville being choosen for a B-Cycle location.  That is a bike-sharing organization wth location nationwide.

Plans are underway to expand the trail all over the City and County of Greenville.

Jacksonville and Springfield should go 'whole hog' on this IMO. 

Here are some links:

http://greenvillerec.com/swamprabbit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_Rabbit_Trail

http://www.southernliving.com/travel/south-east/greenvilles-swamp-rabbit-trail-00417000072658/

http://greenvillerec.com/studies-surveys

B-Cycle:
http://greenville.bcycle.com/

[Noone]

I've seen it being constructed and it is on the official Downtown Bucket to do list for me. Want to check out Longbranch Creek too.

[spuwho]

Definitely one of the best investments COJ has made.

I have ridden many rail-to-trail pathways and I can agree with vicupstate that when done properly can add economic value and connectivity to a community.

I have been on the trails in Greenville SC as well as trails in Illinois (Prairie Path),http://www.ipp.org/

Missouri (Katy Trail) http://www.bikekatytrail.com/and have enjoyed them very much. The Katy Trail has sprung up B&B's and bike rental centers along the way in these old small railroad towns, some of which has actually located in the old train station or freight depot.

It would be great if COJ could come up with a master bike trail plan someday. I don't think they can build them all at once, but at least have a plan in place so when funds become available, they can take action.

I remember riding 15 miles up to Wayne, Illinois to stop at what used to be the town "general store" and grab some lunch and refreshments. Or ride out to St Charles Illinois, for some good Mexican at Potters House.

Eating lunch at the local diner in Weldon Spring, Missouri on that hot, humid day on the Katy.

It only takes about 15-20 years and these paths turn into real attractions.

[thelakelander]

It would be great if COJ could come up with a master bike trail plan someday. I don't think they can build them all at once, but at least have a plan in place so when funds become available, they can take action.

The city does have a master bike plan and the mobility fee is supposed to fund several trail projects that will ultimately connect the S-Line with the Baldwin Trail and other corridors.  We just need to collect the full fee to allow the funds to materialize.

The only major negative I have with the S-Line is the planning effort and implementation.  A portion of the corridor is (and was at the time) being considered for mass transit.  It would have saved hundreds of thousands to not alter the entire 60' wide rail corridor with a bike trail and associated grading.  We could have took a page out of Detroit's Dequindre Cut and constructed a strait trail on 1/2 of the ROW, leaving room for future mass transit.  Now, if commuter rail between downtown and the airport ever materializes (S-Line corridor is also high priority route in the mobility plan), the S-Line will have to be ripped up and rebuilt.


Dequindre Cut - Detroit, MI

Rails with Trails - San Diego


Rails with Trails - St. Louis


sample cross section of a trail being added next to rail

[simms3]

Really?

I think rails to trails is great...I think many if not most cities have them crossing town by now...only a few are really "great", but all can be useful to some.  Frankly I'm a little perplexed as to why the Beltline in Atlanta is never studied or mentioned on this site whenever the S-Line comes up (I've put in a few words because that was one of the projects that kept me sane in Atlanta when I lived there! and I ended up a volunteer for a few years).  No offense to any other examples, but nothing else holds a candle in any way to the Beltline, and if you want to see what the potential is, how it's done, the effort needed, how it started, why it's successful, the massive economic development it's spurred (which imo actually outshines many full LRT systems being built), then you don't need to look any further than 377 miles away, practically in your own southern backyard.  And frankly, connected to and in addition to the Beltline are other trails, such as the Stone Mountain Trail and now the Path400 in Buckhead, which probably blow away your other examples, too.  You have several options to choose from up there since Atlanta has so many former rail lines and it does parkspace better than most cities (it has no waterfront), and it's a sprawling sunbelt city like Jax...the similarities and examples set forth are eery.

I just can't take these repetitive S-Line posts seriously until a serious expose is done on a very successful example like you do for other things, and the easiest for travel and literally the best example for the S-Line would be the Beltline and its many offshoots, and it hasn't been done in all these years and through all these S-Line posts.

[mbstout]

I agree 1000% with Ennis that lack of planning and foresight has only made it more difficult and expensive to implement the much needed light rail line from the proposed transportation hub to the airport.  The amount of TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT that would sprout up along the corridor's proposed stations to the airport would be the be kind of project that would move Jacksonville out of 'backwoods southern "B" city status' to progressive, economically healthy, DESIRABLE "A" city status.   
As a 12 year resident of Brooklyn, NY and former Jax resident (school years) I can't believe how embarrassing it is to tell people I'm from that city.  Brooklyn and NYC is busting at the seams with uncontrolled desirability, real estate that's being sold WAY above asking price, a healthy diverse mix of people.  People want to BE HERE.  Jobs are abundant. 
Real estate values along the High Line Park (another CSX donated elevated 'rails to trails' park) are OUT OF CONTROL!  The S Line corridor needs light rail TRANSIT!! Its kind of upsetting everyone has gotten so hyped up about the proposed 1 station extension of the Skyway to Brooklyn (Jax) that will cost so much for so little return (ie usage & benefit for greater community), when the new Transportation Director should have been applying for TIGER grant funding for S-Line light rail transit!  Wake Up Jax!

[mbstout]

I must have been composing my response the same time as Simms and just couldn't agree more with him. Another city has done it right and Jax still lags behind the big boys.

[thelakelander]

Simms3, it sounds like it would be best if you sumbit a front page article on the Beltline.  You seem to know more about it than any of us.  If you put something together, I would certainly run it on the front page.

[vicupstate]

Simms3, while the ATL Beltine is impressive, ATL is on a whole other level. Many would dismiss the comparison, rightly or wrongly. While other cities of smaller size doing these projects would not permit that convenient excuse. I do look forward to learning more about the Beltline.

[simms3]

I remember riding 15 miles up to Wayne, Illinois to stop at what used to be the town "general store" and grab some lunch and refreshments. Or ride out to St Charles Illinois, for some good Mexican at Potters House.

Wow, my mom grew up in Wayne (umm wow small world) and I still have a cousin in St. Charles (everyone else is either close to the lake or has long since left Chicago).  Beautiful country out there...was still small townish with a simple Metra connection at the old train station when I used to go as a young kid, but as I grew up I watched as suburbia was built up all around those towns.

Simms3, it sounds like it would be best if you sumbit a front page article on the Beltline.  You seem to know more about it than any of us.  If you put something together, I would certainly run it on the front page.

Ok...I'm sending you a PM.

Simms3, while the ATL Beltine is impressive, ATL is on a whole other level. Many would dismiss the comparison, rightly or wrongly. While other cities of smaller size doing these projects would not permit that convenient excuse. I do look forward to learning more about the Beltline.

This is true - would love to learn more about the Greenville example, too.  The thing with Atlanta, though, is that while its metro is much larger, the city functions almost completely independently (all you have to do is look at the TSPLOST voting results to know that Atlanta and its suburbs are two entirely different entities) and is really not that large in either population or land area.  Beltline has interest from many in the burbs as any similarly grand effort would have anywhere, but the majority of the effort is neighborhood driven, which is why I don't think it's too unrealistic to compare to (that and its location and setting can easily be compared to the S-Line).

[Redbaron616]

The problem with rails-to-trails is that it ignores the fact that adjacent landowners were forced to give up their land to the railroads through eminent domain. Once the railroads are no longer in use, that land should go back to the adjacent land plots from which it was taken. In many cases, depending on the state, some laws actually require this. Certainly the current owner of the land should have that right of first refusal.

[spuwho]

The problem with rails-to-trails is that it ignores the fact that adjacent landowners were forced to give up their land to the railroads through eminent domain. Once the railroads are no longer in use, that land should go back to the adjacent land plots from which it was taken. In many cases, depending on the state, some laws actually require this. Certainly the current owner of the land should have that right of first refusal.

This is a good point and has been brought up in many states as more railroads release their ROW's.

For example:

HEFTY V. PENN CENTRAL

On June 2, 1997, after nearly 5 years of litigation, the Indiana Supreme Court handed down a decision on a Park County case that began the rails-to-trails dispute in Indiana.

In 1992, Warren Buchanan brought suit against the Penn Central Railroad. He alleged that he was entitled to clear title to former railroad right-of-way that stretched across his property but which had been abandoned. He sued Penn Central and U.S. Railroad Vest Corporation (USRV), for having wrongfully interfered with his property.

At about the same time, other claimants in other parts of the state were bringing similar cases. In an agreement that benefited both the plaintiffs and the defendants in the Park County case, but adversely affected all other owners of former Penn Central right-of-way, the Park County case was converted to a class action and settled. The settlement provided that every other affected landowner in Indiana would have to pay USRV to get clear title to his property. If U.S. Rail Vest was not paid, it would own the property outright. For everyone who paid USRV, Mr. Buchanan would get a portion of the payment. The details were complex, and there were thousands of properties at stake.

Farm Bureau immediately tried to warn as many of the landowners as it could reach and encourage them to opt out of the settlement. (They were automatically bound if they did nothing.) In the course of contacting the landowners, we met Nels Ackarson, the attorney for some of the landowners, who had brought similar suits in Hamilton County.

Mr. Ackarson and Mr. Henry Price, on behalf of their clients, appealed the case to the Indiana Supreme Court. Indiana Farm Bureau joined as amicus. That is, we filed briefs and other legal documents supporting the position of the landowners.

The Indiana Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, has now overturned the Park County settlement.

The Supreme Court reaffirmed its commitment to the standards set forth in Brown Vs Penn Central, a 1987 case. The question of ownership to real property centers on whether the railroad originally acquired fee simple title (absolute ownership of the parcel of land) or an easement (also known as a right-of-way).

If there is no ambiguity in the deed, the intention of the parties must be determined from the language of the deed alone. But when a railroad prepares the deed, it is responsible for the printed words and so the form is construed in the light most favorable to the grantors. A deed that conveys a "right" generally conveys only an easement. The general rule is that a conveyance to a railroad of a strip, piece, or parcel of land, without additional language as to the use or purpose to which the land is to be put or in other ways limiting the estate conveyed, is to be construed as passing an estate in fee, but reference to a right-of-way in such a conveyance generally leads to its construction as conveying only an easement.

The Court repeated language from a number of earlier cases generally giving the benefit of the doubt to the owner of the original tract. The Court emphasized that it is the public policy in this State to favor the finding of easements as opposed to conveyances in fee simple.

The Supreme Court concluded that the original settlement should be reversed and remanded to the trial court for redetermination of the rights of all owners effected, and not just those who objected.

In a nation fight against abuse of land rights:

The National Association of Reversionary Property Owners (NARPO) was formed to help land owners adjacent to old rail ROW's get the needed information to support their rights.

Since many of these land rights suits have gone to the property owners, in response railroads take much longer to formally file complete abandonment paperwork. In some cases, the rail is left in place without any use so the railroad can maintain ownership ("rail banking"). Norfolk Southern owns several miles of rusted, tree ridden track that hasn't seen a train in over 25 years in Northwest Indiana. Signs report it as private property of "Pennsylvania Railroad LLC" which was a post Conrail entity created to preserve old ROW's.

The real stickler is that railroads were leasing these ROW's to telecom companies to lay fiber, and then pulling up the rails, but continue to collect the ROW lease from them.

Also some railroads have been outright getting the deeds to their ROW's so they can maintain ownership in perpetuity.

In southern Indiana, Indiana Trails is "leasing" the ROW because the STB allowed the rail to be ripped up, but not abandoned. So it technically still belongs to the railroad, even though it doesn't see a train.

The legal issues are finally clearing up after many years of litigation, but the issue you bring up on property rights is valid.

[thelakelander]

Hmm, since the S-Line pre-dates the communities around it, I wonder who would be the rightful owner?

[Garden guy]

We ride the bike trails up on heckscher drive..great rides..id love to this s line..my only concern is the safety of the ride...some of the areas have a dangerous history so i think there should be some sort of emergency call boxes..any ideas on safety for this project..i can see this being used to jump unsuspecting peddlers.