Whatever Happened to Those Wide Open Spaces?
In the last two issues of Jacksonville, articles on Area Planning attempted to update public knowledge of what has happened to our Jacksonville in the last 35 years.
We learned how a depression and then a fantastic growth during the war years shelved the Planning manuscripts. Like most communities, Jacksonville was so busy 'filling orders' to help new residents and industries become a part of our pleasant way of life, that little thought was given to formal planning of any kind. When planning was mentioned, nobody wanted to make waves.
That isn't true today in Jacksonville. Since 1961, when the Duval County Legislative Delegation and the Florida Legislature and the Florida Legislature passed a law setting up the Jacksonville Duval Area Planning Board, a gradual excitement about planning has built up until today (with Jacksonville assuming the role of Florida's largest city) more people are getting involved than ever before.
Their sights are not short, either. "We must be thinking 50 years ahead right now ---not 20 or 25 years" they declare. And they've enlisted help too.
Transportation.
Jacksonville is a major transportation center in the southeast. What can we do to improve transportation? Significant projections are made for ways of moving goods and people in the next 50 years.
Planning authority Alan W. Voorhees whose transportation consultant firm is in McLean, Va., is assigned to this phase of planning. Among his findings:
"All downtown areas in cities are shrinking. With only 20 to 25 percent of all people working in downtown, its function is shifting from manufacturing wholesaling and retailing toward the economic activities of management and finance.
"Because the big population growth is coming in the suburbs, most of our service oriented industry is attracted to secondary centers which spring up to serve these people.
"All this change results in a new concept of road patterns and modes of transportation. The highway into town has lost its importance.
"Today, Jacksonville people are making a total of a million trips a day in the area. Only 3% of these trips utilize mass transportation systems. A million more trips are made daily through the area. Traffic concentrates in the city's center, although only about 10% is destined for downtown. The rest is cross town traffic. This traffic pattern wastes time. We're going to do something about this." says Voorhees.
"Gridirons of roads are the most effective means of providing road service to homes. We'll see an interlinking of communities with cross town feeders to serve dispersed traffic patterns. The result will be less roads ad more open spaces.
"We're planning expressway expansions now. We're planning for several new expressways, both north and south to feed the potential development to the north and east of the downtown and we may provide two cross river systems as port and industrial expansion follows the river north and eastward.
"Also, we're suggesting an expressway just inside the Beaches development as a North South facility to prevent the number one problem which exists in the Broward Dade County areas and could develop at our shore.
"A by-pass rail system just outside of and to the west of I-295 to get big train movements outside the congested areas may be set up to serve the expected industrial development along our present system.
"As you can see, we are getting a marked change from today's traffic patterns.
Mass Transit Systems.
"Until we are at least 1,000,000 population (about 1990), " Voorhees says, "the bus system is the only way to move people at a reasonable cost. Right now we must concentrate on improving this system of bus transportation service, extending routes, stepping up frequency and greatly expanding direct cross town routes.
"Meantime for the next 20 years we can be thinking about reserving right of way for future systems. First we must crystallize planning. A right of way that looks good now might not look so good in terms of tomorrow's growth. A study now will result in better forecasting of traffic and a savings in rights of way acquisitions.
"Several needs are obvious, however. When appropriate, we ought to get a downtown to Beaches route and a connection to the new airport. We'll also need them along expressways as they are developed.
"In essence, we have tried to lay out a system of land, bus, rail, and air transportation that will move people fast, efficiently and economically and will at the same time serve land areas as they are developed." Voorhees concludes. We believe you people are proud of your wide open spaces your serene vistas and your magnificent trees. Good planning now can save them for everybody's enjoyment.
Article and Transcription by Stephen Dare.
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lindab
July 14, 2009, 07:55:26 AMI really appreciate this article since I have wondered for years about the origins of that particular mantra about no transit until the magic density number is reached.
mtraininjax
July 14, 2009, 08:26:20 AMWow, people inhabited downtown at one time....
Dog Walker
July 14, 2009, 08:31:36 AMWell this area is now over the magic million mark so lets get started with the streetcars and commuter rail! Hurray! We've made it!
cline
July 14, 2009, 08:32:42 AMJacksonville Mag is not published by the CoC.
stephendare
July 14, 2009, 09:56:58 AM"Until we are at least 1,000,000 population (about 1990), " Voorhees says, "the bus system is the only way to move people at a reasonable cost. Right now we must concentrate on improving this system of bus transportation service, extending routes, stepping up frequency and greatly expanding direct cross town routes.
"Meantime for the next 20 years we can be thinking about reserving right of way for future systems. First we must crystallize planning. A right of way that looks good now might not look so good in terms of tomorrow's growth. A study now will result in better forecasting of traffic and a savings in rights of way acquisitions.
"Several needs are obvious, however. When appropriate, we ought to get a downtown to Beaches route and a connection to the new airport. We'll also need them along expressways as they are developed.
Its amazing really, how we got exactly what we planned for.
As I noticed in all the Eve Heaney articles, on things stands out. The really did plan what happened, they were just working in a new and developing field, and they had no way of seeing some of the outcomes.
Lunican
July 14, 2009, 10:01:12 AMThe exact same things are being said today, which is discouraging because it has amounted to absolutely nothing being done to improve mass transit. We've been "thinking about" reserving right of way for 50 years now.
stjr
July 14, 2009, 12:36:48 PMThis article appears to me to be a coded message for planting the seed for the Dames Point Bridge (servicing the "north and east" areas of town, which then were mostly swamp) and justifying the connecting I-295/9A Beltway which services the "needs" of the Beaches, Airport, port facilities, cross-town connections. etc. while totally missing the dreaded and "shrinking" downtown area. " 'We're going to do something about this.' says Voorhees."
And, so it was done.
Call me cynicial but I would suggest this article had some serious special interests and political motivations behind its publication.
stephendare
July 14, 2009, 12:42:27 PMDo tell, stjr.
Ocklawaha
July 18, 2009, 12:50:46 PMStjr, it was really a coded and secret message about massive SKYWAY expansion... How else to get to the Beaches from downtown since in the end we didn't save the rail or mass transit right-of-way's.
Smile
OCKLAWAHA
Gwefr
August 05, 2009, 02:13:33 PM"Until we are at least 1,000,000 population (about 1990), " Voorhees says, "the bus system is the only way to move people at a reasonable cost. Right now we must concentrate on improving this system of bus transportation service, extending routes, stepping up frequency and greatly expanding direct cross town routes."
The bus transportation service is still very inefficient. See, my boyfriend had to move back in with his parents after getting laid off and having a hard time finding a new job. Plus his car just totally died on him and he has no $$ to even think about fixing it. Then he finds out the buses don't go *anywhere near* his parents house. (they live right next to I-95 on Old St Augustine Road) This has made it that much harder to find a new job in this screwed up economy. And this is not the only part of town that has no buses running through it. This city needs to actually fix the bus problems before we even think about building a bunch of fancy ways to get around
Ocklawaha
August 05, 2009, 03:07:35 PMThe bus transportation service is still very inefficient. See, my boyfriend had to move back in with his parents after getting laid off and having a hard time finding a new job. Plus his car just totally died on him and he has no $$ to even think about fixing it. Then he finds out the buses don't go *anywhere near* his parents house. (they live right next to I-95 on Old St Augustine Road) This has made it that much harder to find a new job in this screwed up economy. And this is not the only part of town that has no buses running through it. This city needs to actually fix the bus problems before we even think about building a bunch of fancy ways to get around
Voorhees, couldn't have been more wrong! Cities with balanced and mixed mode transit have been far ahead of the learning curve for years. This Mixed Transit theory has worked even in cities much smaller then Jacksonville.
In real world experience, the mix of transit types always over produces the single mode choice. Currently we are stretching schedules to put buses on Beach to Cecil, and Orange Park to Airport, like routes. If we had a completed Skyway, Streetcars and Regional Rail, those same buses could cut their trip lengths in half or more. We could then redeploy our large bus fleet (3rd in FL behind MIA and FLL) as neighborhood transit. This new form of Community Transit sends the buses on a frequent schedule circuit around each community within the metro area. For example the bus that would then pass your home would also pass your bank, your department stores, your grocery and your Rapid Transit Station. The remaining routes that would still go into town could be made more efficient via a BRT/HOV lane concept. The way to get buses and get them more frequently is to get RAIL.
OCKLAWAHA