LaVilla rail project awarded $1.25 million grant

[marcuscnelson]

The City of Jacksonville appears to have won another grant from the Build America Bureau related to efforts in LaVilla, this time for $1.15 million.

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-department-invests-20-million-deliver-regional-transportation

The details as they are available:

The pipeline includes multimodal transportation improvements, such as intercity passenger rail (Amtrak Station Relocation), greenway and creek restoration (McCoys Creek Restoration and Parks), complete streets and corridor retrofits (Myrtle Avenue, Beaver Street, Water Street), regional rail (First Coast Regional Rail), and large-scale urban development (University of Florida Graduate Campus). These projects encompass transit infrastructure, active transportation, and urban revitalization initiatives aimed at enhancing mobility, resilience, and economic growth. The Florida East Coast Railway, which operates rail lines throughout the Jacksonville region, will also coordinate on grade crossing improvements and alignment with safety and mobility enhancements.

On a related note, more than three billion dollars is currently up for grabs between now and June for proposals to improve rail infrastructure and upgrade or remove highway-rail grade crossings.

[Tacachale]

The City of Jacksonville appears to have won another grant from the Build America Bureau related to efforts in LaVilla, this time for $1.15 million.

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-department-invests-20-million-deliver-regional-transportation

The details as they are available:

The pipeline includes multimodal transportation improvements, such as intercity passenger rail (Amtrak Station Relocation), greenway and creek restoration (McCoys Creek Restoration and Parks), complete streets and corridor retrofits (Myrtle Avenue, Beaver Street, Water Street), regional rail (First Coast Regional Rail), and large-scale urban development (University of Florida Graduate Campus). These projects encompass transit infrastructure, active transportation, and urban revitalization initiatives aimed at enhancing mobility, resilience, and economic growth. The Florida East Coast Railway, which operates rail lines throughout the Jacksonville region, will also coordinate on grade crossing improvements and alignment with safety and mobility enhancements.

On a related note, more than three billion dollars is currently up for grabs between now and June for proposals to improve rail infrastructure and upgrade or remove highway-rail grade crossings.

Stay tuned...

[MakeDTjaxGre@tAgain]

Great find. Is the grant supposed to go to all those projects? Seems like it will be spread thin and something will get placed in the back burner. Wonder if there are strict timelines and progress reports as well. This is the only way to keep cities accountable.

Lot of pressure on an organization that can barely achieve 1 mode of transportation. But wonder if they throw their hat in the ring to try get some fed grant to implement a commuter rail.

I think its time for a new CEO. Nat seems like a great guy outside of JTA. He's very smart guy if you ever listen to him speak. He's also very ambitious and innovative - I'm give him that. But a city of our size and growing 20k a year, I don't get how the city state and board members continue with him at the helm.

At some point you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself, am I doing this for me or for the city? My legacy is on the precipice  of defeat and I need to rein it back in, develop what's proven first and on the side, shoot for the moon. That my name will go down in history but take the small wins, do what's right and get rails back. That this would be a huge accomplishment as well.

[Tacachale]

^These grants and project are being spearheaded by the administration, not JTA.

[Ned Plimpton]

More news and potential funding for the return of Amtrak to the JRTC and a regional commuter rail line.  Very exciting news.

JAXFAST

The city is using a $1.15 million USDOT award to establish JAX FAST, an embedded accelerator office within Jacksonville's public works department to move forward eight priority municipal infrastructure projects, the announcement says....
Other projects under the office's focus include relocating Amtrak to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the First Coast Regional Rail, which will connect St. Augustine to LaVilla to Jacksonville International Airport, according to the announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/01/federal-funds-to-support-mayport-upgrades-transit.html

[Charles Hunter]

More news and potential funding for the return of Amtrak to the JRTC and a regional commuter rail line.  Very exciting news.

JAXFAST

The city is using a $1.15 million USDOT award to establish JAX FAST, an embedded accelerator office within Jacksonville's public works department to move forward eight priority municipal infrastructure projects, the announcement says....
Other projects under the office's focus include relocating Amtrak to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the First Coast Regional Rail, which will connect St. Augustine to LaVilla to Jacksonville International Airport, according to the announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/01/federal-funds-to-support-mayport-upgrades-transit.html

If the Mayor is looking to staff this FAST accelerator office, there are several folks who hang out here who could get this office on the right track.

[Tacachale]

More news and potential funding for the return of Amtrak to the JRTC and a regional commuter rail line.  Very exciting news.

JAXFAST

The city is using a $1.15 million USDOT award to establish JAX FAST, an embedded accelerator office within Jacksonville's public works department to move forward eight priority municipal infrastructure projects, the announcement says....
Other projects under the office's focus include relocating Amtrak to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the First Coast Regional Rail, which will connect St. Augustine to LaVilla to Jacksonville International Airport, according to the announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2026/07/01/federal-funds-to-support-mayport-upgrades-transit.html

Very excited for this one. It's been a long time coming.

[jcjohnpaint]

You all going to do a story on this?