Florida High Speed Rail Officially Announced

[Ocklawaha]

The problem with Jacksonville is that we have suffered through 70 years of planning small. We didn't want Disney, didn't want Busch, didn't want tourists, didn't want our railroad hub, and, and, and...

The result, a very big city, with all of the amenities one would normally expect from Green Cove Springs.


OCKLAWAHA

[Dog Walker]

More like Brunswick, IMHO.

[CS Foltz]

More like Mayport IMO!

[Ocklawaha]

Now you guys have gone and made me feel guilty, I WAS a little hard on Green Cove Springs!


OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

HSR station location fight in Polk continues. Lakeland's newspaper's editorial staff believes the best location is the future site of USF Poly, which is roughly about 15 miles east of DT Lakeland.  There is a video in the link that shows exactly how far it is from the city.

Polk High-Speed-Rail Station - Future's Destination: USF Poly


future USF Poly HSR station rendering by SANTIAGO CALATRAVA | USF POLYTECHNIC

Somewhere in Lakeland City Hall is a booklet with a sleek, fast passenger train on the cover. Pictured with the train blazing by is a conductor, checking the time on his pocket watch. The booklet tells of the importance of having a Polk County stop along a Tampa-Orlando high-speed line.

The booklet isn't new. It was published in 1986, when the Florida High Speed Rail Commission was considering a stop for a proposed bullet train. It seemed close to happening in the mid-1980s, because the talk about such a train had been going on for years.

After more than a quarter century of talking about high-speed rail for the Interstate 4 corridor, after voters approved a constitutional amendment mandating its construction - and after former Gov. Jeb Bush helped reverse that decision six years ago - high-speed rail is on the way.

During all that time a decision about where to locate a Polk County stop between Tampa and Orlando has been as nebulous as the fate of the rail project was when Lakeland's booklet was printed in 1986.

With federal funds now available, the fast train should be running by 2015, says Nazih Haddad, chief operating officer of Florida Rail Enterprise, the group formed to oversee the project.

FRUITFUL DEVELOPMENT

Now that high-speed rail will be built, the Polk Transportation Planning Organization has been asked by the state to recommend a stop for the county. It should look to the future and realize that a rail station at the University of South Florida Polytechnic would help draw a high-tech clientele, fortifying the practical-science mission of the university and the research park planned for its surrounds.

This advanced Northeast Lakeland destination would serve as a model for more fruitful development of Polk's land and economy over the coming decades and into the mid-2000s.

The green field nature of the USF Polytechnic development area would allow a fresh start for nearby infrastructure to grow - with the rail stop as a central component, not a forced addition.

A futuristic picture begins to emerge.

That is especially clear when looking at a 2005 study by the Florida Department of Transportation. It sited the Polk stop on I-4 near Kathleen and the western terminus of the Polk Parkway.

Were it still 2005, that location would be the only one considered. But state officials also have four other Lakeland possibilities along the Interstate: U.S. 98, Kathleen Road, Swindell Road and the USF Poly campus under development for 2012 opening at the eastern terminus of the Polk Parkway.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Transportation Planning Organization is scheduled to meet at The Lakeland Center "to discuss and analyze the candidate stop locations" along the I-4 corridor. The agenda notes that the state has requested the TPO to "endorse a preferred stop location."

STATE OF THE ART

As the week ended, advocates circulated detailed reports backing the locations they represent. More may appear. However, these technical documents blind their proponents to the transformative promise USF Poly holds to draw businesses with green ideas, fresh technology and a new direction for Polk. Locating the stop at USF Poly would further solidify its future and demonstrate a local commitment to practical scientific development.

The university's campus will be state-of-the-art. Its cornerstone structure, a 100,000-square-foot science-and-technology building, will be designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. He is known for his design of transportation centers and bridges throughout the world.

From the standpoint of Polk's TPO, a stop at USF Poly would represent the cutting-edge choice (architect's video rendering: www.tinyurl.com/usfpoly). It would be centrally convenient to local riders, as well as newcomers drawn to the campus, new businesses and housing.

The final decision, however, rests with the Department of Transportation. The train's operator, which will be a private consortium selected through a state bidding process, will have influence in practice. Because that operator will be looking to offset operating costs through ridership, the stop locations may be biased toward short-term economics, so USF Poly would need to move fast.

Whatever the outcome, TPO members need to keep this point in mind from Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields in a memo to TPO members: "All of the sites under consideration have positives and negatives. Our top priority must be securing a stop in Polk County."

http://www.theledger.com/article/20100221/EDIT01/2215017/1036?p=3&tc=pg

[CS Foltz]

Lets have a smack down match to get a stop in Lakeland! Winner take all and gets their stop! Clean, quick and simple............no consultant allowed!

[thelakelander]

At least they get to fight over a rail stop and the economic development that could possibly come with it.  Maybe one day we can shrink to the size of Auburndale to have a serious discussion on rail and its impact on the surrounding area.

[Ocklawaha]

Sad part is Lake, if we don't change our ways quickly, we'll continue to stall out. Doubtlessly Central Florida will continue to grow, in fact the whole High Speed Rail Line is being built on SPRAWL, which it will depend on for passengers.  So we have to ask the question, if we keep treading water, at what point will we meet Auburndale while traveling in oposite directions?


OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Panel of Officials to Pick Favored Stop for Rail Today

http://www.theledger.com/article/20100222/NEWS/2225054/1134?Title=Panel-of-Officials-to-Pick-Favored-Stop-for-Rail-Today

[tufsu1]

seems to me that the USF site will win out...all 5 sites are in Lakeland city limits, the Lakeland City Commission wouldn't endorse any site, and it is what the rest of Polk County wants.

[thelakelander]

After looking at all the info presented so far on the station sites, the USF site makes more sense.  None of these stations are going to draw significant ridership, imo, but the USF site will have a major university and the potential for 1,000s of acres of walkable transit friendly development that can be built around the station.  The rest of the sites really offer nothing more than a park & ride location in the middle of low density suburbia.

[thelakelander]

What a way to avoid the heat....

Board Backs USF Poly and Kathleen Train Stops

By Tom Palmer
THE LEDGER


Published: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 6:34 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 6:34 p.m.
LAKELAND | Florida transportation officials should consider the USF Poly and Kathleen Road locations as possible sites for Polk’s high-speed rail station, the Polk Transportation Planning Organization Board unanimously recommended today.



The special meeting of the 19-member board at The Lakeland Center follows a regular meeting held Feb. 11 where members received an initial briefing, but declined to make a recommendation.

At issue at today’s meeting was whether to locate the stop at an existing developed area, such as the intersection of Kathleen Road and Interstate 4, or at a relatively undeveloped area planned for major future development, such as the Williams Acquisition Holding Co. site adjacent to the planned USF Polytechnic campus.

Advocates of both views tried to persuade TPO members to pick the site they favored.

Tom Cloud, an Orlando lawyer representing the Williams/USF Poly site, argued that site was the best location because of its technology and its central location between the two major population centers in the county

“This could change the face of Polk County,” Cloud said.

Lakeland planner Chuck Barmby argued that putting a stop near Kathleen Road or U.S. 98 provides links to existing transit, is centrally located between Tampa and Orlando and is near major medical and sports venues.

Jennnifer Stults, TPO director, said the staff drafted a resolution offering two possible sites in hopes of reaching consensus.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20100223/NEWS/100229891/1410?Title=Board-Backs-USF-Poly-and-Kathleen-Train-Stops&tc=ar

I have a solution.  Give my home county two stations.  One in Lakeland and one at US 27.  You'll hit both sides of one of Central Florida's most rapidly growing counties.

[Ocklawaha]

Once upon a time, 5 flying monkeys from Jacksonville predicted that Florida High Speed Rail was a Sprawl Developers Dream, and that it was not a practical route for mommy and daddy to travel on. Big people rose up to tell the monkeys how blind they were, but the monkeys knew better. All too soon the money started to flow, and the developments started to go up. Wee wee wee! Some of the people yelled, now we will have lot's of jobs forever. But the monkeys shook their heads, as more stations were built the trains only got slower, and people found that they could drive to Tampa or Orlando just as fast and without spending all of that money. So lot's and lot's of people started to travel another way, Commuter Rail and Amtrak became popular. The Great Leader in Tallahassee, tried to fix the trains, soon less were going into airports and more were going into the middle of the cities. People liked that, so nobody noticed when the railroad lanes were paved over for more automobiles on the freeway, and the modern new trains were donated to Hati for dormotory use. Nobody noticed but the 5 flying monkeys, who sat silently with their laptops, shaking their heads...   THE END...




OCKLAWAHA
FLYING MONKEY #1

[thelakelander]

More details about high-speed rail project

by Tom Palmer

A few new tidbits about the Tampa-Polk County-Orlando high speed rail project emerged during the opening session of a two-day conference in Orlando.

One is that the ground-level portion  of the  high-speed rail line will be only partially visible because the plan includes building walls along the route. That, of course, is perfectly logical. The last thing the train needs is some car or truck jumping a guard rail on Interstate 4 and derailing it. The high speed rail will run down the I-4 median for most of its route.

Another is that I knew some parts would be elevated, but didnt’ know where. The elevated parts will be the first two miles from the Tampa station before making the connection to I-4 and a section north of the Beach Line on the way to Orlando International Airport.

Nazih Haddad, the guy DOT who has been instrumental in the project planning, also said that although the state has all of the right of way it needs on I-4, there ’s still some right of way left to buy elsewhere along the route in the Orlando area.

He also said the connection to the airport in Orlando will be easier than it  would be otherwise because the corridor under an  section of the runway was designed to accommodate such a project someday.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said one of the challenges, which he and his staff have yet to work out, is how to connect the high-speed rail with SunRail, the planned commuter rail project.

http://county.blogs.theledger.com/11137/more-details-about-high-speed-rail-project/

[Ocklawaha]

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said one of the challenges, which he and his staff have yet to work out, is how to connect the high-speed rail with SunRail, the planned commuter rail project.

I've got it! Since we're running right off a cliff with this stupid project, let's tie it all together with BUS RAPID TRANSIT, after all, it's "Just like rail - only cheaper..."

This train project get's dumber every time I hear more of the details, by building walls around the train, we might as well order the equipment without windows and save ourselves a bunch of money. I can see the tourists talking and sharing their experiences of Florida by train:

"Wow, what a view Louie! THAT looked just like Florida Rock Concrete!"

"No Vinny, dat's definitely Gate Concrete there!"

"Well Louie, wadda suppose that patch was then?"

"Gotta be Sakrete Vinny, Gotta be Sakrete!"

"Ooh Yeah, your always right Louie, you sure know your cement walls..."

"Yeah well Vinny, when you do 20-life in Singsing, or 30 minutes on Florida's High Speed Train, you learn the scenery!"


BRILLIANT!

OCKLAWAHA