JTA says commuter rail from Jax to St. Augustine could happen before close of 2020s (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — While it’s probably going to take hundreds of millions from the federal government to make it a reality, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority says commuter rail service in Northeast Florida is more feasible than some might realize.
Speaking to the St. Augustine City Commission earlier this week, Jacksonville Transportation Authority Director of Economic Development Richard Clark said there could be service between Jacksonville and St. Augustine in three to five years.
The two most difficult parts, Clark said, were getting all the local governments aligned and getting the federal government to allocate the “north of $600 million” needed for the rail project in Northeast Florida.
“In a perfect world, you could have an operating train in three years,” Clark told the Commission, while acknowledging that three to five years was a more realistic, although still optimistic, estimate.
While every budgeting process is dicey, what Clark said the project has going for it are: obvious need and a route that already has right of way.
“Construction is the easiest part,” Clark said. “It’s the quickest part. Laying track is a less than 12-month process.”
As for the need, he said there are an estimated 40,000 commuters who drive into Duval County from St. Johns every day for work as well as15,000 going the opposite way.
St. Johns County is growing at a scorching pace with more than twice as many residents now as in 2000. There are numerous residential projects currently open and selling rapidly with more in the planning stages.
“We need to get way ahead of what traffic is coming our way,” Clark said. “The most profound impact we can make is commuter rail.”
JTA has hired WSP USA Inc. to study the feasibility of transit-oriented development along a potential 38-mile light rail corridor between downtown Jacksonville and St. Augustine.
St. Augustine City Manager John Regan said during the Commission meeting that Interstate 95 is “a slow-moving crisis” that isn’t going to get better.
There are plans to expand the road by one more lane each way from World Golf Village to Jacksonville, but that will be the extent of potential expansion because of lack of right of way.
That’s why city leaders are looking at adding a commuter rail station near the intersection of King Street and U.S. 1 in St. Augustine.
Later this summer, the commissioners will decide whether to create a new zoning designation called Mobility Oriented Development. And the owners of the property at that King Street-U.S. 1 intersection will apply to have it rezoned should the zoning designation be adopted. A rail station is part of the proposed redevelopment plan there.
But rail service plans routinely have been floated around and later discarded, mostly because of the high costs in establishing service.
Could this round be different?
St. Augustine Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline hopes so. She also serves on the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, which is the independent regional transportation planning agency for Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
She said the organization has gone through the financial feasibility study, and commuter rail service is slated to be developed in the period of 2036-2045. But she’d be glad to see it come together sooner.
“I’m grateful that JTA is making progress and that they’re optimistic about the timeframe,” she told the Business Journal. “But it did seem very optimistic to say three to five years when it’s in the 2036-2045 timeframe. Not that it can’t be moved up. Projects move around all the time.
“We’d love to have it tomorrow.”
As Clark referred to, it’s unclear exactly what kind of commitment and cooperation would be required of the various local governments. The St. Johns County government obviously would have to be heavily involved as would the government of St. Augustine.
Clark said a stop in the Race Track Road area — well outside the St. Augustine city limits — would be ideal for the St. Johns County segment of the project.
For the rail project to go forward, all Northeast Florida stakeholders must see it as beneficial.
“I think that would have to be supported among the (four-county) region,” Sikes-Kline said. “Because you’re competing against dollars on their projects as well, so everybody would have to agree that it was a priority.”
For St. Johns County, Sikes-Kline said a commuter rail system would likely be used by tourists as well as residents going to and from work. That would help St. Augustine as it tries to encourage visitation without those people trying to park downtown, she said.
“We would encourage that because, ideally, they would be coming without cars,” she said. “As you know, we have parking (issues). All desirable cities have parking problems. We have them, too.”