The Case for a Downtown Cruise Terminal

[tufsu1]

FDOT just finished a study looking at options for accommodating larger ships at Tampa's cruise terminal.  The cheapest of the 3 options was $600+ Million to build a new cruise terminal south of the Sunshine Skyway.  Costs of raising the bridge or building a new one are in the $2 Billion range!

[Ocklawaha]

You have to wonder if we couldn't pull the rabbit out of the hat somewhere on the Fort Caroline side? The eastern half of Quarantine Island, or the western half of Reed Island directly south of Blount Island/Dames Point are unused and could be linked directly to the I-295 or Regency area. There is also a large spoils island, NE of St. Johns Creek between Mayport and Fort Caroline, with a road already onto the property from the end of Fort Caroline Road. Great Marsh Island by Mile Point is a bit wetter but also has a road connection.

I tend to agree that Mayport was the best location but like the JRTC they typically seemed to be shooting at the moon when all we really needed was an attractive, neighborhood friendly, little port building surrounded by business lease space something like the new parking garage design (not that they'll ever build that out either). Along with some massive street, infrastructure, lighting, sidewalk, park and beautification improvements, the Mayport deal would have been much less of a threat.

I don't know why we keep dreaming/designing for the Graf Zeppelin when we're flying piper cubs!

[Charles Hunter]

All of Quarantine (aka Bartram) Island, and most of Reed Island are west of the JEA power lines.  Any idea what raising the power lines would cost?  Beyond that, Quarantine Island is pretty much 100% a JaxPort dredge spoil site - that's where the maintenance dredge spoil goes.  Reed Island is right next to a rather upscale neighborhood - they may not want cruise traffic going through their subdivision.  Coming off the Dame Point Bridge would probably get a big No from the folks at Federal Highway.  I think the spoils area to the east connected to Fort Caroline Road is also an active spoils area. Great Marsh Island looks too wet - permitting would be a nightmare, and isn't it within the Timuquan Preserve?
I suppose alternative sites could be found for the spoil activity.  You can see the spoil containment areas on Google aerials.
And I agree, Mayport Village would be better, if they could have worked with the community for something "context sensitive".