LaVilla rail project awarded $1.25 million grant

[marcuscnelson]

The City of Jacksonville appears to have won another grant from the Build America Bureau related to efforts in LaVilla, this time for $1.15 million.

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-department-invests-20-million-deliver-regional-transportation

The details as they are available:

The pipeline includes multimodal transportation improvements, such as intercity passenger rail (Amtrak Station Relocation), greenway and creek restoration (McCoys Creek Restoration and Parks), complete streets and corridor retrofits (Myrtle Avenue, Beaver Street, Water Street), regional rail (First Coast Regional Rail), and large-scale urban development (University of Florida Graduate Campus). These projects encompass transit infrastructure, active transportation, and urban revitalization initiatives aimed at enhancing mobility, resilience, and economic growth. The Florida East Coast Railway, which operates rail lines throughout the Jacksonville region, will also coordinate on grade crossing improvements and alignment with safety and mobility enhancements.

On a related note, more than three billion dollars is currently up for grabs between now and June for proposals to improve rail infrastructure and upgrade or remove highway-rail grade crossings.

[Tacachale]

The City of Jacksonville appears to have won another grant from the Build America Bureau related to efforts in LaVilla, this time for $1.15 million.

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-department-invests-20-million-deliver-regional-transportation

The details as they are available:

The pipeline includes multimodal transportation improvements, such as intercity passenger rail (Amtrak Station Relocation), greenway and creek restoration (McCoys Creek Restoration and Parks), complete streets and corridor retrofits (Myrtle Avenue, Beaver Street, Water Street), regional rail (First Coast Regional Rail), and large-scale urban development (University of Florida Graduate Campus). These projects encompass transit infrastructure, active transportation, and urban revitalization initiatives aimed at enhancing mobility, resilience, and economic growth. The Florida East Coast Railway, which operates rail lines throughout the Jacksonville region, will also coordinate on grade crossing improvements and alignment with safety and mobility enhancements.

On a related note, more than three billion dollars is currently up for grabs between now and June for proposals to improve rail infrastructure and upgrade or remove highway-rail grade crossings.

Stay tuned...

[MakeDTjaxGre@tAgain]

Great find. Is the grant supposed to go to all those projects? Seems like it will be spread thin and something will get placed in the back burner. Wonder if there are strict timelines and progress reports as well. This is the only way to keep cities accountable.

Lot of pressure on an organization that can barely achieve 1 mode of transportation. But wonder if they throw their hat in the ring to try get some fed grant to implement a commuter rail.

I think its time for a new CEO. Nat seems like a great guy outside of JTA. He's very smart guy if you ever listen to him speak. He's also very ambitious and innovative - I'm give him that. But a city of our size and growing 20k a year, I don't get how the city state and board members continue with him at the helm.

At some point you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself, am I doing this for me or for the city? My legacy is on the precipice  of defeat and I need to rein it back in, develop what's proven first and on the side, shoot for the moon. That my name will go down in history but take the small wins, do what's right and get rails back. That this would be a huge accomplishment as well.

[Tacachale]

^These grants and project are being spearheaded by the administration, not JTA.

[Ned Plimpton]

More news and potential funding for the return of Amtrak to the JRTC and a regional commuter rail line.  Very exciting news.

JAXFAST

The city is using a $1.15 million USDOT award to establish JAX FAST, an embedded accelerator office within Jacksonville's public works department to move forward eight priority municipal infrastructure projects, the announcement says....
Other projects under the office's focus include relocating Amtrak to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the First Coast Regional Rail, which will connect St. Augustine to LaVilla to Jacksonville International Airport, according to the announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/01/federal-funds-to-support-mayport-upgrades-transit.html

[Charles Hunter]

More news and potential funding for the return of Amtrak to the JRTC and a regional commuter rail line.  Very exciting news.

JAXFAST

The city is using a $1.15 million USDOT award to establish JAX FAST, an embedded accelerator office within Jacksonville's public works department to move forward eight priority municipal infrastructure projects, the announcement says....
Other projects under the office's focus include relocating Amtrak to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the First Coast Regional Rail, which will connect St. Augustine to LaVilla to Jacksonville International Airport, according to the announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/01/federal-funds-to-support-mayport-upgrades-transit.html

If the Mayor is looking to staff this FAST accelerator office, there are several folks who hang out here who could get this office on the right track.

[Tacachale]

More news and potential funding for the return of Amtrak to the JRTC and a regional commuter rail line.  Very exciting news.

JAXFAST

The city is using a $1.15 million USDOT award to establish JAX FAST, an embedded accelerator office within Jacksonville's public works department to move forward eight priority municipal infrastructure projects, the announcement says....
Other projects under the office's focus include relocating Amtrak to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the First Coast Regional Rail, which will connect St. Augustine to LaVilla to Jacksonville International Airport, according to the announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/01/federal-funds-to-support-mayport-upgrades-transit.html

Very excited for this one. It's been a long time coming.

[jcjohnpaint]

You all going to do a story on this?

[thelakelander]

^Possibly once we have more info. Any type of commuter rail is years off, regardless of JAX FAST. But getting passenger rail back downtown is something that's an achievable first step to any long term goal.

[Charles Hunter]

Another article from the Business Journal

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/06/city-aims-to-relocate-amtrak-to-downtown.html?ana=e_JA_me&j=46450300&senddate=2026-07-06&empos=p1

Jacksonville moves to relocate Amtrak station as federal funding fuels downtown rail hub

Amtrak's relocation to downtown Jacksonville is gaining traction from federal funding.

The overpasses, traffic and buses, surrounding the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center tend to overshadow the history of the once-bustling railroad hub in LaVilla where train passengers arrived as far back as the late 1800s. The old Jacksonville terminal saw up to 142 trains and 20,000 passengers a day, according to Metro Jacksonville archives.

Though the train station that once operated there is now defunct, the City of Jacksonville is taking early steps to change that – unveiling the relocation of the Amtrak station to downtown at the top of its list of projects under a new federally-funded office.

But the city has a long way to go before bringing passenger rail back to downtown.
...
"Amtrak is aware of the city's announcement and has had periodic discussions over the years about potentially returning service to downtown Jacksonville," Toll said in a statement. "While we remain open to the concept, we would need more detail on the project scope, funding, and operations, before making any commitments."

"We have been in communication with Amtrak throughout this process since the original stakeholder meeting and grant was received," [Phil] Perry [a city spokesperson] said in a statement. "The design and PD&E phases have not yet commenced, and the overall timeline will be determined as the master plan is developed."

Efforts to bring Amtrak back to downtown are nothing new. In fact, JTA conducted a comprehensive study on how to do it in 2004.
...
"Mayor Deegan spearheaded the effort to move this initiative forward by bringing together all stakeholders to determine concrete steps that would get trains rolling back at the Prime Osborn in Downtown where they belong," Perry said. "The Deegan Administration took the lead in coordinating these efforts because of the city-owned property that is impacted. And it has already paid off in terms of seeking and winning these grants, building capacity to take on the work, and soon, to develop the master plan and projects for the area."
...
And the city hopes to spur a more local rail resurgence as well, Perry said.

"The initial focus is on bringing Amtrak back, but the hope is certainly to also attract potential commuter rail/regional rail and potential private rail operators in the future."

[marcuscnelson]

Some astonishing news out of Washington today, that I'm surprised got no coverage from our representatives as projects elsewhere have:

The City of Jacksonville has been awarded $4 million from the National Railroad Partnership Program for project development to support the relocation of Jacksonville's Amtrak station to Downtown. The City will provide a 20% ($800,000) match.

This brings the total federal funding secured by the City for projects related to the rail terminal to $6.4 million.

Current details:

Florida – Jacksonville Amtrak Station Relocation to Downtown LaVilla Neighborhood (Up to $4,000,000)
City of Jacksonville
The proposed project was selected for Project Development activities to support the future relocation of the Jacksonville Amtrak Station to the historic Union Terminal site in downtown LaVilla owned by the City of Jacksonville. The current station and proposed relocation are both on CSX trackage. The project aligns with selection criteria by increasing the ability to meet anticipated demand because the station's relocation will facilitate service growth and improve integration with other modes by enabling connections to local and intercity bus services located near the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center. The City of Jacksonville will contribute a 20 percent non-Federal match.

This project qualifies for the statutory set-aside for long-distance passenger rail routes and services: Amtrak's Silver Meteor, Floridian, and AutoTrain routes.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Great news but what does the $4.8 million pay for?  Studies of traffic, building renovations, track infrastructure and train movements to facilitate the move, costs... 

Trying to understand how prepared we will be after expending these dollars to actually get the move made in our lifetimes  .

[marcuscnelson]

^ Generally the phasing here, at least at this time, goes something like:

Project Planning/Feasibility Studies (where we've been the last 20+ years) -> Project Development -> Final Design/Engineering -> Right of Way Acquisition (if necessary) -> Construction

We did a good chunk of the ROW acquisition already, since the Convention Center is already (still) there and UF is (presumably) cooperative. There may be some more needed for the section of wye that this station would need. In theory, JTA should have been able to do this sometime in the last 5 or so years with the $3.4 million they got from the LOGT for JRTC Rail project development, but it's unclear if they ever made any material progress given what they prefer to spend their effort on.

Seeing that the City appears much more motivated, and now has secured the money for project development themselves, and built the expertise needed to win a grant from this program, they should be able to within the next... say 3-4 years, complete all the necessary project development efforts (including environmental review and permitting) and then be able to go back to the FRA for a grant to cover Final Design, Right of Way Acquisition, and Construction of the actual station facilities, just as Portland and Cocoa now have.

[thelakelander]

The mayor said she was committed. Progress continues to be made. More than what we've been able to accomplish over the past 20 years. UF developing a campus in LaVilla helps with the feasibility.

[jcjohnpaint]

Awesome news. I know the Deegan administration is behind most of this. Where is council, aside from Peluso? I can see see them somehow derailing all of this.