Metro Jacksonville
Community => Transportation, Mass Transit & Infrastructure => Topic started by: Ocklawaha on September 10, 2007, 12:31:09 PM
The Highway Lobby in FDOT is fighting back under the table, but Light Rail on CSX is moving ahead. Note this is a San Diego Sprinter type service something like we envision for the "S" line. It also includes conversion to electric trolley or has an extensive trolley component to it. Again, just like we envision. The diesel has come under fire (gee I wonder who would do that?) and the idea that LRT will cause "horrible traffic congestion" (gee wonder who is behind that one too?), shades of Skyway vs Trolley and JTA saying "Trolleys must compete with automobiles." BS! When will Florida get it through their heads that Trolleys don't cost lanes when they operate in roadways, they SHARE lanes with traffic. Having a LRV behind you at a stoplight is the same as having a City Bus behind you, so what is the big deal? The difference is, the LRV has the ability to leave the road and sprint to the next station on the railroad, show me a City Bus that can do that?
Forgive me JTA for that last statment, I recall you DID point out the European system that drives buses on train track. Y'all would get a kick out of this idea. Some city in Europe (I could get the name if it were realistic) laid wooden stringers along their elevated and subway rail lines and now runs buses AND trams along them... Just imagine what the FTA and NTSB would do with that here? A bus built to rail car collision standards? Probably weigh in at about 300,000 pounds!NEWS RELEASE FROM MASS TRANSIT MAGAZINE:QuoteCitizen Subcommittee Backs Preference of Group
Jose Pagliery, The Miami Herald
Critics of the proposed use of light rail trains along the CSX railway are a step closer to victory.
That transit alternative remained a contentious issue at Wednesday's Citizen's Transportation Advisory Committee's subcommittee meeting; it was the only alternative not approved.
A draft resolution in favor of the seven other alternatives in the Metropolitan Planning Organization's transportation analysis passed 8-7.
"There's a big block in West Kendall [that] the CSX isn't servicing," committee member Lee Swerdlin told MPO officials who conducted the study.
Zvi Krugliak, the only council member giving the CSX alternative approval, said he had spoken to many Kendall residents who supported the idea. His comment surprised those in attendance as 15 homeowners associations recently joined the Kendall Community Council in opposition.
The draft resolution will go before the full committee Sept. 19, where it will take a two-thirds vote to alter the recommendation before it is given to the MPO Governing Board.
"We can propose a different version of this plan. Most of the people out there voted very heavily against the CSX. It doesn't seem to move the bulk of the people who need it," Swerdlin said.
Conversely, the committee said, the other alternatives do move people where they need to go. These include a Bus Rapid-Transit line running along Kendall Drive, a rapid bus line on 137th Avenue and an extension of the Metrorail running alongside the Homestead Extention of the Florida Turnpike from Florida International University to 152nd Street.
The diesel light rail train alternative has received numerous public displays of criticism from hundreds of Kendall residents in recent months. The proposed rail runs along the CSX corridor, from Metrozoo to Kendall Drive, taking a right at 97th Avenue. The train would then travel on a dedicated rail to Dadeland Station on tracks embedded into Kendall Drive.
"This is the worst thing I've ever seen. It's total insanity," said Kendall Community Council member Edward Levinson of what he believes will become a traffic nightmare at the intersection of Kendall Drive and 97th Avenue.
But the agency's consultant, Jeffrey Stiles, is confident that strategic traffic signaling will help minimize complications.
"I'm not going to kid you and tell you that there won't be a traffic impact," Stiles told the subcommittee, arguing that sacrifices were necessary in order to prepare for the future.
Agency officials hope that drivers affected by the ever-increasing traffic will inject themselves into the public transportation system, thereby increasing the system's efficiency and lessening traffic on major roadways.
Subcommittee members also expressed concerns that CSX Transportation Inc., which operates the largest railroad system in the eastern United States, would not be easy to deal with on issues such as acquiring right of way and scheduling.
"We can't anticipate what they're going to do or not going to do. Maximum coordination is imperative," said Naomi Wright, the committee's vice chair.
If the full committee echoes the subcommittee's recommendation, the resolution will be sent to the MPO Governing Board, which is set to vote on the alternatives Oct. 4.
Oh, JTA! You see, it's not impossible after all...OcklawahaSic Semper Tyranis