A Solution to Jacksonville's Logistics Problems

[thelakelander]

The fact that COJ can't fund anything alone is more reason to take the holistic approach. This will allow a local project to qualify for and pool together an assortment of funding options. NS and CSX bound trains (the majority of traffic from the port, I assume) won't have to use the rebuilt S-Line.  However, I'll let the railroad guys explain ways to alleviate noise and scheduling concerns.

[fieldafm]

Ock, interested in going and crashing the party with your ideas come December?

Via Daily Record:
http://jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=532245

In what proponents believe will further link Northeast Florida to the global economy, the first phase of a comprehensive regional plan was presented Thursday to the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization.

The study, the “North Florida Freight, Logistics and Intermodal Plan,” was presented by Ron Ratliff, RS&H executive vice president.

It detailed the first phase of a comprehensive regional plan to identify freight database development and market trends and pinpoint immediate critical transportation system deficiencies.

The first phase, which is the only part currently funded, will run through next summer.

The purpose, said Ratliff, is to help Northeast Florida keep pace with its competition across Florida and the Southeast.

“It’s a subject I’m very passionate about,” said Ratliff.

“This region has always been a transportation hub. It needs interconnectivity,” he said.

The freight database and market trends will include a commodity flow database while identifying industry best practices and transportation and freight policies, among other factors.

The study features the ports of Jacksonville and Fernandina; military and private ports; rail service, including CSX, Norfolk Southern and Florida East Coast Railway; intermodal rail terminals; Jacksonville International Airport; and the regional highway system.

A future phase of the study will look at long-range infrastructure and policy needs as well as short-range needs in the work program.

Along with RS&H, Cambridge Systematics Inc. and Martin Associates form the consulting team on the study.

In other news from the meeting:

• The board approved a resolution first discussed last month that supports the designation of the Cecil Field Spaceport. The support allows for further opportunity for North Florida TPO to allocate funds on projects such as Cecil Commerce Parkway, New World Avenue and its entrance, along with projects connecting the spaceport to other entities. “It’s not going to compete with anything yet (for funds),” said Jeff Sheffield, North Florida TPO executive director, “but it puts it in the pipeline.”

• The board approved Intelligent Transportation Projects funding recommendations for the next several years, beginning with $700,000 for fiscal 2011-12 followed by $1 million each for fiscal 2012-13 and 2013-14.

For the coming year, projects include $50,000 for installation of equipment on Beach Boulevard that will connect the Beaches to the rest of the signal system and network. In addition, $560,000 will go toward fiberoptic installation from Blanding Boulevard to the Clay County facility at Sleepy Hollow. Currently, the system uses DSL that is now obsolete. The last project funded in the coming year will be installation of intelligent transportation cameras in the Fernandina area along State Road 200.

• The next meeting will be Dec. 9, when board members will elect new officers for the coming year.


dchapman@baileypub.com

[CS Foltz]

From a personal point of view...........Bay Meadows is supposed to be controled by ITS system! If this is so, sumbitch ain't doing the job! Appears to be just JTA feathering their nest to watch out for someone somewhere, but its not the public! Bay Meadows is still screwed up morning noon and night!

[fieldafm]

From the Jax Biz Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2010/11/04/low-hanging-fruit-up-for-grabs-by-port.html

‘Low-hanging fruit’ up for grabs by port
Jacksonville Business Journal - by Mark Szakonyi
Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010, 5:02pm EDT

The amount of cargo coming to East Coast ports when the expanded Panama Canal opens in late 2014 will be steady, not the surge expected by some, but there is “low-hanging fruit” available now, a port analyst told the city of Jacksonville’s Logistics Advisory Group members Thursday.

John Martin, president and CEO of port and shipping consultants John C. Martin & Associates LLC, said Florida ports, including Jacksonville, should work to gain the annual 2.8 million TEUs, twenty-foot-equivalent container units, that come to the state through non-Florida ports.

He said about 40 percent of containers imported into Florida go over non-Florida port docks. Building an on-dock or near-dock terminal for moving containers onto trains, and vice versa, would make Jacksonville a more attractive entry point for shipping companies’ customers.

Martin and Cambridge Systematics Inc., a transportation consulting firm, are working with the Jacksonville engineering firm Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. to determine the potential for freight movement in Northeast Florida and what are the best ways to increase the region’s share. The $400,000 study commissioned by the First Coast Transportation Planning Organization, along with the Jacksonville Port Authority and City of Jacksonville, will be completed by June 2011, said Ronald Ratliff, RS&H executive vice president.

He said the next phase of the study, which isn’t yet funded, would be to place the findings into the state’s strategic intermodal system plan. This would allow Jacksonville to better tap into state and federal funding since the impact of the port’s trade would be clearer and fit into the state’s push to build its logistics and trade industries.

Ratliff said what other ports have done to increase their trade and what approach will work for Jacksonville needs to be known before a long-term plan is created. The future study phases would also target the short-term priorities of the port.

Martin said East Coast ports will continue to increase their cargo handling, but it won’t be the up to 25 percent surge heralded by some analysts.

Shipping companies will still bring larger ships through the expanded Panama Canal in late 2014 and it’s important for Jacksonville to deepen its channel to 50 feet so the 6,500-TEU and larger ships can call on its docks, Martin said. The impact the expanded Panama Canal will have on East Coast ports has been dampened by improved labor relations at West Coast ports, more competitive rail service and a receding of environmental restrictions.

Martin warned that the Port of Miami, which had federal approval to deepen its port but no funding yet, will be a major competitor. It is essential that Jacksonville is the first U.S. port of call for Asian ships coming through the Panama Canal.

[CS Foltz]

If we don't get some "RAIL" working into and out of the Port..........we can wish in one hand and defecate in the other, which do you think will fill up quicker?

[Noone]

Thought this would be a good thread to throw this out. A good local issue. Rail is so important and I'm learning a lot on this issue from those who contribute their knowledge and expertise.

Its off topic but at One stop Thrift at Post and Edgewood I was there and noticed  some old beautiful post cards in great condition of train enginesThey are in an album and larger than your normal post card. Ock, Lake just thinking of you guys but someone else that is interested in the history of Rail may appreciate this. Over 30 post cards of engines all over the country.