Florida High Speed Rail Officially Announced

[buckethead]

I hope the doubters here are proven wrong (myself included). A failure here would mean 40 years of continued wandering in the mass transit desert.

[fsujax]

Yeah. our elected delegation that represents our area in Tallahassee, should be making a loud noise about Jacksonville, but so far it's silence.

[tufsu1]

So is the Miami to Jax Amtrak upgrade not going to happen?

I would not say that right now. No state received more than half of their original request.  Also, don't forget there is funding available every year for HSR, plus additional funding from other transportation sources.

agreed Lake...while Amtrak on FEC is not being funded through the $8 billion program, there are many other transportation revenue sources available....and if HSR is paid for entirely by the Feds, then the state would have more of its own money to put toward the Amtrak deal.

I have 2 concerns about the HSR funding:

1. How much money will come fromm the Feds over the next 3 years....assuming FL gets a total of $2 billion, can they build the whole thing?

2. In the past FDOT has not been able to start construction until all money has been secured...how will they get around this?

[tufsu1]

to be fair Stephen the Tampa-Orlando line has been in planning stages for over 25 years....and the Federal environmental documents (studies paid for by FDOT) for the route were approved in 2004.

[Lunican]

What has JTA and Jacksonville been planning for over the past 25 years?

This is a serious question. In 1985, what was being discussed and planned for?

[Shwaz]

I'm a little unsure that Orlando to Tampa was the best place to start with HSR in Florida... but I guess any start is a good start.

[tufsu1]

What has JTA and Jacksonville been planning for over the past 25 years?

This is a serious question. In 1985, what was being discussed and planned for?

That is a fair question....but to assume that one could walk in now (if they were paying attention) and get money is disingenuous...the same is true with the new stimulus funding for streetcars....you need to already have plans and environmental permits in hand.

What Jax. needs to do NOW is take the next step and get some environmental studies going for both commuter rail and streetcars.

[thelakelander]

I'm a little unsure that Orlando to Tampa was the best place to start with HSR in Florida... but I guess any start is a good start.

While I do believe this region could be better served by commuter rail or amtrak, connecting these two by rail does make a ton of sense.  Its pretty populated, I-4 is a congestion nightmare and the cities are pretty close together.  So a short starter segment between two viable endpoints makes sense (this is what we should be doing with our local rail plans).  Going from Orlando to Miami will cost billions more and take years to complete and Jax was no where to be found in these serious discussions the past decade or two.  At least the short Tampa/Orlando segment allows the state to get their feet wet. 

[tufsu1]

Legos are fun!

[thelakelander]

Yeah, its been a pretty good two months for thelakelander's Lakeland.  They get HSR, CSX's new rail hub as a part of the Sunrail deal and the real Legoland. 

[cline]

The money provided by the Obama Biden Administration however, was not a 25 year process.

If Jacksonville were engaged in that level of conversation, then it would have had a similar chance.  But it wasnt, isnt and so it doesnt.

Jacksonville's chance really wouldn't have been similar.  That route has been in the planning stages for a while therefore it was the obvious choice.

[cline]

So bascially, the reason that Jacksonville doesn't have HSR is because no public officials attended a single conference in Orlando?  Right.

Since you state you are able to "influence national policy" I'm a little surprised that you weren't able to bring some of the funds home to Jax.  What happened?

[thelakelander]

Jax has no HSR funding because it was never a real part of the planning process.  Those guys in Central and South Florida have been planning this stuff for years and that's why its considered "shovel ready."

If anyone is interested, here is a link to some of those documents.  

http://www.floridahighspeedrail.org/PD_E_Documents.html

Until Jax can officially commit to something and produce the necessary documents needed to secure federal funding, federal funding for any type of local or intercity rail, involving Jax, will not be on the radar.  

[cline]

Jax has no HSR funding because it was never a real part of the planning process.  Those guys in Central and South Florida have been planning this stuff for years and that's why its considered "shovel ready."

That was the point I was trying to make.  We didn't get funds because we haven't been planning an HSR route like others have.  It wasn't because we didn't show up at one meeting.

[tufsu1]

again I will point out that the funding for al of the previous studies was provided by FDOT at a statewide level....and to be honest, northeast Florida never had the population (i.e., legislators) to compete with central and south Florida.

Jax. is now in a very good position with the Secretary of FDOT and the District Secretary being from here.