List Narrows For Commuter Rail Bid

[downtownparks]

Did anyone already post this/know about it?

http://www.trolleycar.org/observations/070803.asp

List Narrows For Commuter Rail Bid
By Leo King
August 03, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 16 â€" Floridians in the Northeast part of the state will know on August 30 who the successful bidder will be to look into commuter rail for the region.

Project manager James Boyle said, “The top three consultants came to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for presentations, and the final short list will be presented to the JTA board at the August 30 meeting for their approval.” Those top three were Gannett Fleming (http://www.gftransitrail.com/), HNTB (http://www.hntb.com/), and PB Americas (http://www.pbworld.com/markets/transportation/).

The JTA is the lead agency.

Gannett Fleming, Inc. is an international planning, design, and construction management firm in the U.S. and abroad since 1915.

With more than 90 years of growth, employee-owned HNTB is one of the most prominent engineering, architecture and planning firms in the nation.

PB Americas, or Parsons Brinkerhoff and its rail division, include veterans of some of the world’s leading railroads.

The successful bidder will begin looking into the potential for commuter rail routes over CSX in Clay County between Green Cove Springs, Orange Park and Jacksonville’s Prime Osborn Convention Center, once a terminus for four different passenger railroads. Other potential routes will include Daytona Beach and St. Augustine to the Osborn Center over the Florida East Coast Railway in Flagler and St. Johns Counties, and other CSX routes to the north and west of the city, including Fernandina, Baldwin, MacClenny and possibly Stark. It is a six-county examination, including Clay, Duval, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker and Flagler over existing tracks of CSX Transportation and Florida East Coast Railway.

The Osborn Center is in Duval County.

Boyle noted in May, “We had seven firms bid. They were HNTB, PB, Transystems, HDR, Gannett Fleming, URS Corp., and Wilbur Smith Associates.” He pointed out, “We have $400,000 allocated for the study â€" $250,000 this fiscal year and $150,000 in fiscal 2009.”

Bids were opened on May 11, and seven bidders offered proposals for the deal.

He said, “We do not automatically award to the lowest bidder. Once the selection committee ranks the top three after the presentation, then that list is sent to the JTA board for approval, and they enter into contract negotiations.”

Some of the bidders were heavyweights in the design-build process. All have at least some rail planning experience. The four other bidders were Transystems, at http://www.transystems.com/; HDR, at http://www.hdrinc.com/; URS Corp., at http://www.urscorp.com/; and Wilbur Smith Associates, at http://www.wilbursmith.com/index.htm.

James Green of the regional Florida DOT office in Jacksonville said, “The department is participating with JTA and the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization in the consultant selection process. As the study gets underway, staff from FDOT will participate in the study with them and other agencies and organizations in the study area. This will include providing information to the consultants, and participating in meetings to review their work.”

The four railroads that terminated at the Jacksonville terminal Atlantic Coast Line, Florida East Coast, Seaboard Air Line, and Southern.

ACL and SAL are now parts of CSX Corp., FEC remains independent, and Southern is part of Norfolk Southern.

CSX Railroad touches Clay County in two places â€" a small portion of its “S Line” in the northwest corner at Clay Hill, and a much lengthier portion from the Duval County line at Orange Park southward to Palatka in Putnam County. It parallels U.S. Highway 17.

In the big picture, the S Line originates in Jacksonville and travels westward to Baldwin, and continues to Tallahassee and beyond, but a branch line, which is really a heavy-duty main freight service track, heads southward from Baldwin toward the middle of the state and on to Miami.

The A Line originates in Washington, D.C., passes through Jacksonville and on to Miami. This is the route Amtrak trains pass over, and is farther east that the S Line.

Using population data from the 2000 census and future projections through 2030, the eventual planner is tasked to “develop transit propensity characteristics and map the potential for ridership along the corridors.”

March 10 was a banner day for Northeast Florida. Two members of Congress were in the Northeast Florida city to herald commuter rail.

“It will be 2009 before we see commuter trains here, if we can get the funding and other things fall into place,” said Rep. John Mica of Florida’s 7th House District.

He was out of his district but was joined by Rep. Corrine Brown (D), who was within her district. Her district includes much of Duval County, Clay County and six other counties.

Brown told the crowd of Florida DOT officials, rail professionals and rail advocates, “It’s a partnership. This is so exciting! I’ve been to other countries, and in August we’re going to take our committee on trips overseas.” They’ll be studying other rail systems.

Both are members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Mica is the ranking Republican.

Each is a strong passenger rail advocate, and both are also members of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials. She also chairs the Rail Safety Subcommittee. Mica has been cool toward Amtrak, but supportive of commuter rail.

The Colorado Railcar demonstration was in Brown’s district.

Mica noted, “You have a distribution system. This DMU represents the technology of the future. It’s cost effective, a lost-cost delivery system and an intermodal system.

“Orlando has the same problems,” sprawled out, he added. Central Florida is getting a commuter rail system.

The Orlando area will be served by a commuter rail system that will see the state buying about 60 miles of CSX’s A Line. CSX is moving most of its freight trains off the “A Line” to its “S Line,” which runs west from Jacksonville to Baldwin, then southward to Lakeland and on to Miami as well as Tampa.

Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) chairs the committee, and Mica is its ranking Republican. Brown and Mica are also members of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee.

Mica noted he had been speaking with Ander Crenshaw (R) of Florida’s 4th House District, which includes part of Jacksonville, and who is a Member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Brown and Mica were in this city, which hosted Superbowl 39 in 2006, to show transportation officials and the media what the future of commuter rail will look like, and to help JTA, which is a state agency, launch its plan to research commuter rail for the region.

Michael Blaylock, JTA’s executive director, explained that the First Coast “is growing at a rapid pace. From 1990 to 2000 the First Coast saw an average growth of 22 percent.”

Nassau County lies north of Duval County. South of “J’ville” and east of St. Johns River lay St. Johns, Flagler and Volusia Counties.

West of the mile-wide river are Clay and Putnam Counties, and to their west, Baker and Bradford Counties.

Blaylock said he expects about a half-dozen firms to bid on the project.

“St. Johns County was recently ranked as the 23rd fastest growing county in the country, Clay County was ranked No. 82, and Flagler County â€" which is not part of the First Coast â€" was ranked at No. 1,” Blaylock said.

Copyright Free Congress Foundation
2007

[Jason]

James Boyle is the man.  He has been busting ass to make this happen.  If there is anyone at the JTA we should be praising it is him.  Give this guy all the support you can and great things could happen within the JTA.

[thelakelander]

Gannett Fleming won.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,900.0.html

[Ocklawaha]

Beware the face of JTA!

While I praise the folks the really want commuter rail in this community, I don't trust JTA as far as I could throw one of its BRT Buses. The tone and message of the BRT pep talks are "Jacksonville will not have rail in our lifetimes... It's just too small, too thin, too spread out, etc. We have studied rail and found it FAR too expensive and a REALLY poor fit for the city." All in all they have NO INTENTIONS of allowing for rail.

They keep a constant undercurrent of whispers that while JTA doesn't think rail will work, who ever you happen to speak to, knows it is "really" our future. As if you are the special friend of agent 007, and he is telling you the secrets of the Universe... But only YOU. "Spssssst? He Bud, could I interest you in some rail talk?" True, it COULD go either way. Perhaps they will really do a study that blows away the Million or so they have already invested in BRT. Perhaps they will show that the whole BRT card house is falling down. Perhaps they will claim that rail was their plan all along. Perhaps the Sun will rise tomorrow over the Pacific Coast... yeah, perhaps!

Ocklawaha

[big ben]

i thought this was more about regional rail.  i would think that if they're thinking of building some type of rail in the future, having some rail for another system that could share tracks would save a brt bus-load of money.

[thelakelander]

Correct big ben, this study is about a regional rail system.  Something that will be built IN ADDITION to BRT instead of coming up with a solution that integrates the two.  So instead of saving money and not being a detriment to the surrounding communities, their plan is to build two parallel systems, thus pushing the cost for these improvements well past $1 billion.

[big ben]

Correct big ben, this study is about a regional rail system.  Something that will be built IN ADDITION to BRT instead of coming up with a solution that integrates the two.  So instead of saving money and not being a detriment to the surrounding communities, their plan is to build two parallel systems, thus pushing the cost for these improvements well past $1 billion.

and displacing more businesses and/or homes.