A Closer Look at the Transportation Center

[Keith-N-Jax]

Interesting, how do they come up with these ideas and concepts? As others have said you shouldn't be surprised.

[Jaxson]

Having been to the multimodal station in St. Louis, I am disappointed in Jacksonville's collective silence regarding Amtrak.  I have been frustrated for years to know that train passengers have to board and detrain at a shed on the Northside.  Does anybody in Jacksonville care?  Downtown would greatly benefit from travelers being able to access local lodging and retail in the urban core and not having to settle for a glorified shack with bathrooms and snack machines.  Many people in our town don't even know that we even have a train station.  This is shameful...

[Ocklawaha]

Ock,don't let Bostech get to you with his jokes.

I thought your joke was funny! That's why I said we already have one tower... If we had leaders smart enough to MATCH the design of the new building with the old buildings we might get more towers, lots of arches, stucco with brick trim. The station that fronts Bay Street, on it's south side is what is left of our First Jacksonville Station. They don't care about history, or we would be trying to make them blend together.

Enjoy Bostech, everybody understands your feelings on the ugly design.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Hay guys...........I just got struck by a brain storm. We already have property available at the Prime Osburn so lets buy some army surplus tents and form our own "Tent City"! Portapotties and a couple of hose's and shazam! Cheap, easily moveable and cheap to add on to......what more could JTA/FDOT want! Put a Cell Site on Wheels smack dab in the middle and a phone system is up and running, not to mention sniper tower for slow movers!

Sounds Perfect to me CS, sound planning, and the GOB's can put the extra cash saved, in their pockets. Oh shit, we've done it now! Gave them a whole new concept.

Interesting, how do they come up with these ideas and concepts? As others have said you shouldn't be surprised.

He probably has a stash of the same highly inspired hooch that Ock has! YIPPIEEEE!

Having been to the multimodal station in St. Louis, I am disappointed in Jacksonville's collective silence regarding Amtrak.  I have been frustrated for years to know that train passengers have to board and detrain at a shed on the Northside.  Does anybody in Jacksonville care?  Downtown would greatly benefit from travelers being able to access local lodging and retail in the urban core and not having to settle for a glorified shack with bathrooms and snack machines.  Many people in our town don't even know that we even have a train station.  This is shameful...

What can I say, you are 100% right in every respect. Allowing that STUPID Amshack to be built was dumb in the 52Nd degree in the first place. Even IF they wanted to move out of JTCO, they could have left two platforms active and built the AMSHACK under the Lee Street Viaduct.

Always the Jacksonville battle cry, "Should have, would have, could have!"

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

"AMSHACK" .............yup! That does describe very accurately just what the hell is there Ock! With that ediface, Jacksonville advertise's just what to expect! Once again.......no plan, no vision of what could be,but a glaring example of what is!

[mtraininjax]

GOB Network

CS - Congress cannot FIX themselves of the GOB Network at the National level. State reps and senators cannot remove their hands from the influence factor at the state level, what makes you think that council persons can do the same? The Rule is, those with the gold MAKE THE RULES.

[CS Foltz]

mtraininjax.......I agree.......infact that is glaringly obvious with some of the projects that have taken place here in town......roads being moved to acquire property that belongs to certain individuals or positions handed out because of their parents and or name........the list goes on! Council people need to do a better job representing those who put them into office, they need to represent their constituants! They need to represent all rather than just a select few!

[tufsu1]

earlier in this thread Lake posted some pics about the new Detroit Transportation Center....here's an article from Metropolis Magazine aout it.

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20091216/a-symbol-of-progress

I found this background information especially interesting...

"The city had been using a temporary site at the edge of a downtown pocket park since late 2001, when the bus terminal at Cadillac Square was demolished to make way for the construction of Campus Martius Park."

[CS Foltz]

Pocket Parks make lots of sense to me and would do wonders for something likewise downtown!  I does not take alot of of anything other than imagination.............oops! Sorry, City Hall doesn't have any....so forget it!

[tufsu1]

sure...but Lake didn't point out that that the park used to be the location of the central bus station...and that transit was forced to use a temporary facility for at least 8 years.

I can just imagine how something like that would go over in this town...oh wait, maybe it already has in the for of Amtrak!

[mtraininjax]

With the current city budget mess, I don't think we will be seeing any new pocket parks anytime soon. Thankfully. Unless Peyton wants to be more of a lightning rod than he already is...

[Ocklawaha]

sure...but Lake didn't point out that that the park used to be the location of the central bus station...and that transit was forced to use a temporary facility for at least 8 years.

I can just imagine how something like that would go over in this town...oh wait, maybe it already has in the for of Amtrak!

More then you suspect TUFSU, our own "Union Bus Station" was opened by Colonial Stages at the corner of Laura and Forsyth, where BOA is today, about 1926. It was served by the Jacksonville Traction Streetcars, and through buses from throughout the Southeast. The San Jose "BRT" a non-stop bus to San Jose Village also left from this area, I believe it was Hourly. The JTCO ran the Camp Johnston Route as what I jokingly refer to as "SRT" (Streetcar Rapid Transit) a non-stop service from the central stations to the base for a quarter.

As for Amtrak? Yeah, we did that already and now we're trying to push all the rest out to the "Ranch" in LaVilla, rather then THE STATION in LaVilla. 20 years from now, we'll all be talking about how stupid that Metropolitan St. Augustine, and Palatka, all have a Transportation Center, and we have more of a Transportation "Farm". Like the current Florida HSR plan, doomed to stumble before we start.

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

When your right ...........your right Ock!

[CS Foltz]

The more I see about the proposed Transportation Center, the more I think we are going in the wrong direction, both design wise and use wise! There does not appear to be any provision for expansion in any direction, other than up or down, and there most assuredly is no rail option the way things are layed out! I am beginning to believe this is not only a very bad design but a very bad idea where the proposed site is going to be located! Somehow I think if this is the best we can do, we are doomed to repeat mistakes made in the past and I won't start listing them ..........there is not enough room! The general rule of thumb should be .....will it be acceptable 20 years from now and this proposal doesn't meet that criteria!

[tufsu1]

somehow I'm not surprised you feel that way CS...but please explain how the Transportation Center, which is directly connected to the Skyway and adjacent to the Prime Osborn and associated RR tracks, doesn't have or allow for a rail option.