Peyton plans $100M investment in infrastructure

[Lunican]

Peyton plans $100M investment in infrastructure

Mayor John Peyton unveiled a stimulus package that would invest $100 million into new roadway construction projects.

He said $50 million would go toward infrastructure investment in and around Jaxport, with the remaining going to road projects planned though the Better Jacksonville Plan.

“It’s clear that port activities are the most viable way to expand our local economy,” Peyton said Monday when announcing the plan. “But the port doesn’t exist in a vacuum and we must make investments in the infrastructure in the area to ensure that businesses and the residents can coexist.”

Because sales tax revenue has fallen, the city is asking the city council to extend the six-cent local option gas tax past its 2016 expiration date.

Full Article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2008/12/01/daily10.html

[brainstormer]

I officially can no longer take the man seriously.  My respect for him is equal to my respect for the huge pothole at the corner of Main and 3rd.

[BridgeTroll]

the city is asking the city council to extend the six-cent local option gas tax past its 2016 expiration date.

This should be allowed to expire and another tax proposed and voted on for a specific purpose and timeframe.

[Ocklawaha]

If Peyton is talking about using the $100 Million set aside for mass transit then this is an act of near criminal neglect. He would take the future of our children in order that we expand the port and live comfortably today.

If Peyton is talking about a "new" $100 Million, then robbing it from JTA will not a world class city make. There is no tier one city on earth without great mass transit. Cutting JTA back to living off of scraps of tax dollars is going to result in severe cut-backs at a time when we need more mass transit. Putting our future in the hands of highway lobby is the quickest way to shut down our long term development. Ask any blue chip company if they would move to Mayberry...

They say history repeats itself and if that is true then Peyton is leading Jacksonville into a new Permian-Triasic Period. Alasaurus? Hello mate! Meet our Orangutan!

[tufsu1]

this makes sense...whether youy think more $ should be invested in transit or not, there are many road projects that are needed....and the fact is, most of the stuff coming into the port will be on trucks at some point!

[thelakelander]

$100 million in road construction won't get you that far or generate many jobs (outside of the companies involved in the construction).  Also, funding should not come from any money being set aside for mass transit.  We're already behind the eight ball in that department.  If anything, it may be time to reevaluate some of the remaining BJP projects.  For example, can we get away with triple turn lanes at some intersections instead of overpasses?  I'll be waiting to see how this stimulus package breaks down per project.  Right now, the information released is too vague.

[tufsu1]

Nationally, AASHTO estimates that there is $26 billion worth of projects ready to go...this would create something like 600,000 jobs!

[Ocklawaha]

Nationally, AASHTO estimates that there is $26 billion worth of projects ready to go...this would create something like 600,000 jobs!

Every $1 spent on public transit projects generates on average $6 in local economic activity. (Source: American Public Transportation Association)

Between 3,140 and 5,700 jobs are generally created for every $100 million invested in public transit. (Source: Cambridge Systematics, Inc.)

EXAMPLE
Research shows that businesses realize a gain in sales of three times the public sector investment in transit ; a $100 million transit investments results in a $300 million increase in business sales. (Source: Cambridge Systematics, Inc.)
Metrolink Light Rail, St. Louis, Missouri

First opened in 1993, there has been $4.3 billion in new development around the original line, leading to a revitalization of the metro area (Source: Citizens for Modern Transit).  In addition, a 77-acre, $500 million project in Maplewood is being planned with 600,000 square feet of office space, 340,000 square feet of retail, 1,300 housing units, a 160-room hotel and a Metrolink station at both ends. 



Another example:  MAX (Metropolitan Area Express) Light Rail, Portland, Oregon

More than $6 billion in development has occurred along Portland’s MAX light rail lines since the decision to build in 1978 (Source: TriMet, Portland, Oregon).  Portland’s streetcar line also has generated $2.8 billion in investments. Between 1997 and 2005, 7,200 new housing units and 4.6 million square feet of commercial development occurred in the Pearl District, once a blighted industrial area near the line.


Do the math and tell us if you still want the highways. Fact is more and more of the nations freight is moving toward rail, and rail is getting positioned to retake the lead across the board as truck lines increasingly come to the railroads with business models. The new RO RO device invented at JaxPort is also going to have a powerful effect on our railroads and ship lines. It allows a trailer to move as a container in the container stacks. No longer will dedicated (and expensive) RO RO space be needed aboard ships.

I think we would all agree that any road could probably use some tweeking or improvement, but at the cost of mass transit? That's just INSANE!

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

I don't doubt that number, tufsu1.  I just question the ultimate impact of $100 million, depending on how it is divided locally.  If properly invested in a manner that goes in hand with a long range plan that creates spin off jobs, livable development and diffuses traffic, its a great thing.  If isolated to a few projects that don't have as much spin off potential or encourage sprawl then it could be a bad thing.  At this point, the information presented so far is not enough to sway me to either side of the plan.

[alta]

Couldn't the infrastructure around the port be funded through tax revenue that will be generated through new cargo at Mitsui and Hanjin.  It is hard for me to take Peyton seriously anymore either.  We have decaying infrastructure in the urban core and a lack of a viable mass transit system.  I guess we will end up like Atlanta or Houston before we get it!!  How many years has he been in office and we don't have our urban sprawl courthouse out of the ground yet.  I wonder how much the city had to do with the Mitsui and Hanjin deals.  Our central location in the SE U.S. probably had more to do with that.

[9a is my backyard]

It is also necessary to move the current courthouse away from the river so private development can take advantage of the site.

Let's fail to mention the fact that the sprawling courthouse design will take away additional land from any development.

Unfortunately more infrastructure for the port means more trucks, which means more road deterioration, which  means even more $$$ needed for road investment in the future.  Hopefully this will all be paid for through tax revenue generated by the port but I'm not holding my breath.  How long till the next mayoral election?

[Keith-N-Jax]

How long till the next mayoral election?

To long. Jax is already decades behind any mistakes made now will be costly to our future. After Delaney, Peyton was the very last thing Jax needed.

[thelakelander]

A gasoline tax set to expire in eight years might be extended until 2039 to help drum up cash. Peyton also is asking Jacksonville Transportation Authority to restructure an agreement that has had the JTA collecting revenues from a half-cent sales tax that's been on the books for two decades.

City officials think both moves would help finance $50 million in ongoing Better Jacksonville projects. That announcement was coupled with Peyton's call for the city to finance another $50 million in new spending to help move heavy trucks in and out of Jacksonville's growing deepwater cargo ports.

Together, the projects were sold as a $100 million stimulus amid a complex mathematical web of legislation expected to be firmed up for the City Council's review early next year.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120208/met_362515013.shtml

Ock was right.  It does appear that the plan is to rob Peter to pay Paul.  Money would be taken from mass transit funding to help pay for additional road improvements.  This is a bad idea given that the economic return on mass transit is greater than what road improvements bring in. 

[thelakelander]

Here are the list of roads that may be funded by Peyton's plan.  I may be overlooking a street or two, but none of these appear to be within the old city's pre 1968 boundaries.

IN LIMBO

There are 17 road projects slated under the Better Jacksonville Plan that remain without a construction timeline as city officials look for financing. Mayor John Peyton thinks if the City Council follows the plan he detailed Monday, all could be done by 2019. But priorities would establish when each is completed within the coming years.

PENDING NOTICE TO PROCEED

Touchton Road: Belfort to Southside
Fort Caroline: Townsend to McCormick
Dean Road: Beach to Parental Home
Collins: Shindler to Old Middleburg future road

IN DESIGN

Crystal Springs (Phase 2): Hammond to Cahoon
Greenland/Loretto/OSAR slip lane (formerly Caron Drive ext.)
Kernan (Phase 5): Atlantic to McCormick
San Pablo Road: Beach to Atlantic
Collins Road: Shindler to Westport and Westport to Rampart
Cahoon (Phase 2): Lenox to Beaver
Shindler Drive (Phase 2): 103rd to Collins
Kernan (Phase 6): Butler to Glen Kernan
Girvin Road: Atlantic to Mount Pleasant
Old Middleburg Road: Branan Field to 103rd
Hartley Road: St. Augustine to Florida 13
Collins Road: Blanding to Pine Verde
Ricker Road: Old Middleburg to Morse

[ProjectMaximus]

A gasoline tax set to expire in eight years might be extended until 2039 to help drum up cash. Peyton also is asking Jacksonville Transportation Authority to restructure an agreement that has had the JTA collecting revenues from a half-cent sales tax that's been on the books for two decades.

City officials think both moves would help finance $50 million in ongoing Better Jacksonville projects. That announcement was coupled with Peyton's call for the city to finance another $50 million in new spending to help move heavy trucks in and out of Jacksonville's growing deepwater cargo ports.

Together, the projects were sold as a $100 million stimulus amid a complex mathematical web of legislation expected to be firmed up for the City Council's review early next year.

full article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/120208/met_362515013.shtml

Ock was right.  It does appear that the plan is to rob Peter to pay Paul.  Money would be taken from mass transit funding to help pay for additional road improvements.  This is a bad idea given that the economic return on mass transit is greater than what road improvements bring in. 

Petitions, anyone? Where can I sign...