LYNX Light Rail: Five Years Later

[Metro Jacksonville]

LYNX Light Rail: Five Years Later



Nearly five years ago, Metro Jacksonville covered the opening of Charlotte, North Carolina's LYNX light rail line.  Today, we present a photo essay of the environment that has developed around Charlotte's rail line to illustrate what could be possible in our own city when community-led vision enters the picture.


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-jul-lynx-light-rail-five-years-later

[vicupstate]

The soon to start extention into North Charlotte has already fueled redevelopment in the NoDa district even though construction won't be complete for several years yet. Just the anticipation of Light Rail has spurred redevelopment there for several years now.

[Noone]

Interesting!

[Doctor_K]

And JTA's short-term plan is to STILL use BRT "as the spine" of the system.

<facepalm>

[mbwright]

The brief bus lane on Blanding, in front of the Flea Market, removed parking, and contributed to the decline.  Imagine if rail was on Roosevelt, or Blanding, or Philips, or other major artery.  I think buses will always have a poor impression, at least in this town.  I Boston, it is seen as part of the transportaion options.  BRT just is not the same. 

Are there any studies showing BRT creating a similar impact in growth as light rail?

I especially like how the actual number of users is much higher than the original estimate.

[fieldafm]

I would encourage you to listen to First Coast Connect tomorrow morning as JTA will be talking about their long range transportation plans ahead of Thursday's forum.

I would also encourage you to attend Thursday OR write JTA to let them know why fixed transit and stimulating TOD is so important to our economic future.

One of the first things they could do (and probably most important) would be to advocate for the Mobility Fee moratorium (a fair and equitable structure agreed upon by the development community) to sunset in October. 

[cline]

^Do you know who will be speaking from JTA on Connect tomorrow?

[fsujax]

You should also write or call your councilperson and the Mayor's office. Of course with the current administration I can't see the city spending money on anything unless Council intervenes.

[hightowerlover]

I think the ideal route would be from the san marco skyway station then down beach or atlantic blvd all the way to the ocean. I would say down butler, but I dont think PVB would be on board.

[Doctor_K]

I think the ideal route would be from the san marco skyway station then down beach or atlantic blvd all the way to the ocean. I would say down butler, but I dont think PVB would be on board.

Maybe, but you've already got a bulk of the infrastructure in place paralleling US1/Philips. Park & Ride or Bus-to-rail transfer stations at Atlantic near San Marco Square, and then on down the road at Emerson (or) University, Butler, Baymeadows, Shad, Avenues, Greenland, and Old St. Augustine (or any combination thereof).

Use the existing bus fleet to run from those station-locations up and down those east-west arteries, and all of a sudden you've got a much more useful, relevant, and meaningful transit system.

And that's just the Southside!

And that's just the SE portion of the potential system, which has been covered ad nauseum throughout MetroJax's forums. 

That's not to say I don't necessarily disagree with your sentiment, Hightowerlover, but at the same time why not use what we've already got?

[JFman00]

I saw in the 2012 Consolidated Plan a map of prospective commuter rail corridors with a first operational date of 2021. How serious has JTA really been about this?

[thelakelander]

When we formed Metro Jacksonville in 2006, it was an afterthought.  In fact, in light of the criticism generated by this group, they initially publicly talked down commuter rail locally and tried to highlight why it wouldn't work and why BRT was the superior mode of transit to any fixed rail alternative.  Even the thought of transit oriented development was a foreign thought to the agency.  Since then, they've at least acknowledged that what we were claiming makes sense and have added it to their "long term" plans.  Looking back six years later, I'd say without Metro Jacksonville, there would still no discussion about fixed rail of any kind and the economic impact that it can have on our city.  With that said, 2021 is too long for the implementation of a starter segment.  2021 pretty much places you in the starting phases of begging for federal dollars with little to no intention of finding alternative creative financing methods. 

Seriously, I don't know if Jacksonville can afford to wait that long for reliable economic stimulating transit options with the way the world around us is changing.  The H.J. Klutho's, Cora Crane's, Jacob Cohen's and James Weldon Johnson's of Jacksonville a century ago would roll over in their graves if they saw how slow we've become in making progressive decisions to improve our quality of life.

Nevertheless, real implementation will only come with community support and bold leadership.  If those two things can align, we'll have something operational well before then.  Luckily, it appears at least some people are starting to get it locally but we still have a lot of hard work ahead of us.

[RexMontana]

Until the people at JTA get their heads out of the manhole, this project will never succeed. We need people that are more forward thinking to get this project going. Jacksonville has needed some type of rail system since the 70s. It really surprises me that for a city with the largest land area in the country, no one has implemented something to get its citizens moving around faster. The bus system is a joke. I know first hand because I had to depend on it when I did not have a car and it was pure hell. You could not catch a bus from point A to point B. You always had to go downtown and catch another bus and IF you were able to catch the connecting bus, then you would get to work on time. And that's a big IF because the buses did not run on schedule. Plus, a normal 1/2 hour drive to and from work in a car would take at least 2 hours to work and 2 hours from work before you arrived home. Just think how easy it would be for everyone if you had a rail system that you could take from one place to another. Look at how easily it has worked for other major cities like New York, Boston, Atlanta and Miami.

[fieldafm]

This is particularly relevant with JTA's new visioning process.

Do we want to encourage highly fiscally responsible development patterns associated with TOD that have clearly been successful in peer communities like Charlotte (or Tampa)?  Or do we want to continue to subsidize and incentivize low density development further out that only puts further pressure on already strained municipal finances?


BTW, here is the link to First Coast Connect yesterday
http://www.wjct.org/radio/shows/wjct_news#fcc

[Ocklawaha]

I think the ideal route would be from the san marco skyway station then down beach or atlantic blvd all the way to the ocean. I would say down butler, but I dont think PVB would be on board.

The beaches would be a great destination, but we don't even have the starter core system. Jacksonville tends to develop 'skyscraper plans' with no foundation whatsoever.

What could be done quickly and effectively would be to get commuter rail up and running from downtown to Orange Park/Green Cove Springs, and downtown to St Augustine parallel to Philips Highway. A BRT line could be quickly implemented along Atlantic, Beach, or JTB to the beaches.

Until the people at JTA get their heads out of the manhole, this project will never succeed.

Just think how easy it would be for everyone if you had a rail system that you could take from one place to another. Look at how easily it has worked for other major cities like New York, Boston, Atlanta and Miami.

A commuter rail system will only work if it's well connected to a mixed base of Streetcar/light-rail, bus/BRT and Skyway. Putting 5 miles of rail in downtown and the immediate vicinity, will only effect the passenger traveling from Bay Meadows to MLK, in that it should relieve bus equipment that is currently tied up circulating in the downtown-Riverside market. While this SHOULD allow more bus frequency, it won't magically transform everyones commute.

It works in New York, Boston, Atlanta and Miami, because those cities have fairly complete, and well connected, mature systems. While streetcars and commuter rail would be a huge development tool in Jacksonville, there is no magic bullet.