At yesterday's JTA State of The Authority, CEO Nat Ford announced the Mobility Visioning Plan 2050 (MVP 2050).
https://www.jtafla.com/media-center/press-release/jta-announces-mobility-visioning-plan-2050-at-state-of-the-authority-event/
JTA calls the plan "a 25-year conceptual vision for the future of mobility in Northeast Florida."
QuoteMVP 2050 will serve as a comprehensive roadmap to meeting tomorrow's mobility needs as Jacksonville's population is expected to grow by approximately 20%, to over 1.4 million people in the year 2050, according to the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
The Mobility Visioning Plan 2050 will also include a series of public meetings to talk to residents and outline the plan to the community. This will include the next phases of the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C), traditional bus and transit services and other ways to move people around our community.
"MVP 2050 is a forward-looking plan that integrates technology, resiliency, and smart growth — advancing everything from rail to autonomous vehicles, expanding pedestrian and bike safety, improving transit access, and ensuring every investment strengthens our neighborhoods and grows our economy," said JTA CEO Nat Ford.
The Mobility Visioning Plan 2050 is co-led by the JTA and the City of Jacksonville, in collaboration with the Florida Department of Transportation, the North Florida TPO, the JAX Chamber, Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA), JAXPORT, the Jacksonville Airport Authority, and over a dozen community partners and organizations.
We already have a 2050 Long Range Transportation Plan. My immediate concern is that this is going to ultimately be another exercise in JTA's insistence that despite the expected growth, our regional transit future must ultimately rely on pouring more money still into speculating on autonomous shuttles at the expense of anything we know works. Yes, there will be lip service for rail, and there will probably be a push for more ultralight BRT implementations, but nothing that will practically push the needle on getting people around without needing to depend on driving everywhere for everything, every time. Mostly just more shuttles that people don't want to ride. Meanwhile, FDOT will continue to spend billions on regional highway expansion over this same timeframe, while we wonder why other cities continue to outpace us.
Can we get the projects done that were mentioned in the 2030, 2035, 2040, etc. LRTPs first.....?
If we can't move them forward, forget about any lip service for something 25 years from now.
I think this sums up JTA's plans pretty well... 8)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpKAnp5Klzw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpKAnp5Klzw)