Jacksonville's 2030 Mobility Plan

[Metro Jacksonville]

Jacksonville's 2030 Mobility Plan



Over the next few weeks, Metro Jacksonville will highlight the details of Jacksonville's proposed 2030 Mobility Plan and show how the proposed infrastructure and land use changes could impact the development and quality of life of our community. Today, we will get started with a look at the 2030 Multimodal Transportation Study's Executive Summary.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-apr-jacksonvilles-2030-mobility-plan

[tufsu1]

This study is groundbreaking...and Jacksonville is being viewed as a leader statewide in mobility (and mobility fee) planning....the City's Planning department should be commended on this effort.

The challenge now is in plan implementation.

[tufsu1]

Brad Thoburn also deserves some credit for this....the concept was initiated while he was Planning Director...and he is very supportive of this plan and others being conducted throughout the state in his new role at FDOT.

[jandar]

Nice plan,

Have to disagree with the 5 year plan part, US17 and Blanding are totally ignored at first, and Normandy is widened to 6 lanes. Yay, more cars, less rail on the westside.

They use FEC lines for commuter rail on US1, can they not work with CSX on the line down US17?
How are they reducing mileage by adding road capacity and not rail capacity in a high travel corridor?

The rest of the plan is nice, good to see someone pushing commuter rail.

[tufsu1]

jandar...there is commuter rail going down US 17, just not in the first 5 years....these are big projects that are going to take 10+ years to get implemented.

The main reason the southeast line shows up early in the plan up is that there is an expectation that FDOT and Amtrak will reach an agreement w/ FEC in the nex few years to resume service on that line, with a station in St. Augustine. 

[thelakelander]

Everybody on this site has asked for change for years and now something that help bring that change is on the table.  The key will be getting council to buy in, accept and approve the plan this fall.

[cline]

According to the model, the average trip length for the Downtown TCEA/CBD, the Urban Priority Area, and the Urban and Suburban development areas are all about the same (9.09-10.28 miles).  That really seems odd to me.  I would think that there should be more disparity between some of the development areas.

[thelakelander]

Regarding the 5-year plan, Rome was not built in a day.  We have to start somewhere and at this point, the FEC line seems to be more viable and integrates well with the city's vision of redeveloping Philips Highway as a transit friendly corridor.

[JC]

The intellect behind it is Killingsworth, but Brad deserves recognition for fostering a good idea.

The long term implications of this plan are literally game changing for the city, and a return to intelligent reality based development.

You think they will use local union labor for this, or outsource it to contractors from other states with workers from other countries, like the court house?

[jandar]

jandar...there is commuter rail going down US 17, just not in the first 5 years....these are big projects that are going to take 10+ years to get implemented.

The main reason the southeast line shows up early in the plan up is that there is an expectation that FDOT and Amtrak will reach an agreement w/ FEC in the nex few years to resume service on that line, with a station in St. Augustine.  

That makes sense then if they are including the Amtrak stuff in the commuter rail part.
The sad part is if they work with CSX, they could have commuter rail up on the CSX lines probably quicker than the Amtrak stuff as there is less government involvement.

[Tripoli1711]

As I was reading, I am nodding feverishly and copying down my favorite parts, such as "According to the American Public Transportation Association, every dollar of public money invested in rail attracts $6 in new private investment.", "Fully funding the streetcar line from downtown to riverside (king street)"
"A viable mass transit system becomes a high priority.  With this in mind, commuter rail and streetcar starter lines have been included within the Five Year CIE."

I cannot think of a better start to a Friday morning than to read this.  It sounds like it could be verbatim from an article on here.  I am sure there may be a couple of kinks to iron out, but overall I am thrilled.  I know this site will be instrumental in seeing to implementation, and I know we won't be disappointed with the effort.  Let's make it happen.

[JC]

Thats a bidding process, JC.  The Planning Department doesnt handle that.  But whoever does the actual work, the savings to the City as a result of implementing the ideas will be in the billions of dollars.

Sure, I am aware of how contracts are rewarded and I don't intend to derail this topic but.....  Doesn't it make sense to have these types of considerations in mind at the planning stages?   I realize there is almost zero value placed on union labor in the south, and, as evident by the Wal-Mart, scourge of Jacksonville, that everyone is looking for the lowest price.  However, there are so many qualified men and women in the local area who are unemployed that this could be a win win for everyone!  Local money made, local money spent, that sort of thing.  

I know most people don't give a crap, but here are some recent numbers!  Needless to say, THESE POTENTIAL JOBS ARE SO VALUABLE THAT THE CITY SHOULD KEEP THEM IN TOWN!

Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1% as Another 64,000 Construction Workers Lost Jobs in February 2010
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 (1)

Mar 10, 2010 5:17 PM

The construction unemployment rate jumped to 27.1% and construction employment dropped to a 14-year low as another 64,000 construction workers lost jobs in February, according to federal employment figures released recently.

The industry's job losses in February were consistent with the prior six months and not mainly attributable to exceptionally bad weather, according to Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Arlington, Va. Simonson added that construction unemployment is at the highest level recorded since the federal government began making the data available in 1976. And he noted that non-residential construction experienced significantly more job losses than the residential sector in February: 53,500 jobs lost versus 10,600.

Simonson also noted that job losses appeared widespread across construction sectors, with non-residential specialty trade contractors experiencing the largest monthly decline of 1.7%.

http://ecmweb.com/ezone/construction-unemployment-20100310/

[Captain Zissou]

I am ecstatic about the commuter rail and streetcar plans for within 5 years.  Not only will it improve the congestion in our city, I see it as enriching the lives of the citizens.  The thought of zipping down to St Aug on the train, staying a day, and zipping back up (all without a car) is amazing.

I can't wait!

[Actionville]

Wow, that's pretty dramatic. The mobility tax idea is phenomenal. Hope it goes through

[Clem1029]

OK, I'm missing something on the mobility fee/tax...is that something designed to be assessed to the developers if the propose a change (i.e., something like Nocatee would get hit with a much larger mobility fee than a development in one of the urban zones) or is that a tax assessed on property owners that live in the area (higher prop tax increase for, say, Bartram Park vs Arlington or some such)?