JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The city of Jacksonville is exploring the possibility of moving the Amtrak station from the Westside to Downtown.
The City was recently awarded five grants totaling $12.5 million from various entities.
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Within the five grants, the United States Department of Transportation Build America Bureau, and Regional Infrastructure Accelerator (RIA) Program awarded the city $1.15 million dollars to establish JAX FAST, which is an office inside the Public’s Works Department focused on advancing eight infrastructure projects.
One of the eight projects JAX FAST will focus on is relocating the Amtrak station from Clifford Lane on the Westside to Downtown at the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla.
“I think it’s a really good idea,” Anjelica Bencomo, who lives in Jacksonville, said.
Bencomo was just getting off of the Amtrak after returning from Baltimore. She said relocating the Amtrak station would be a great idea to help revitalize downtown.
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“I think it’s one more little flagstone to hang our hat on and say ‘Hey come on down’ and get right into downtown where we’re trying to make everything as a new hub,” Bencomo said.
However, for Peter and Leslie Gerlach, they don’t think moving the Amtrak station downtown will make them take the train more.
“We’d use it more if it went out to the outskirts of Jacksonville,” Leslie Gerlach said.
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We reached out to the city of Jacksonville and asked Mayor Donna Deegan’s office how much money from this grant would be allocated to the Amtrak relocation project, and what the money would be used for.
You can read that full statement below:
“The grants funding the LaVilla Transit Innovation and Equity Project and JAX FAST are managed and administered by the City of Jacksonville – and they are for project master planning purposes only. Part of this process is determining the funding that is needed to complete the infrastructure improvements that are needed.
“All the JAX FAST improvements are near JTA’s Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center (JRTC), which was built across the street specifically because of its proximity to the Prime Osborn Convention Center (and future UF campus site) where the proposed Amtrak platform and train depot would be developed on City-owned property. In addition, while the master plan and projects being evaluated for both grants are centered around the transit and passenger rail facilities, the improvements themselves include a variety of City projects, such as McCoys Creek parks, Beaver Street and Myrtle Avenue Improvements, as a means to foster positive growth around the passenger rail facility. That list of JAX FAST projects is below. We will maintain close coordination with JTA regarding transit-specific aspects of the project.
“The return of Amtrak passenger rail to Downtown Jacksonville has been a city priority for decades – JTA made a comprehensive study of it in 2004, for instance – but the complexity of the issue for all the various stakeholders involved has kept it from moving forward. Mayor Deegan spearheaded the effort to move this initiative forward by bringing together all stakeholders to determine concrete steps that would get trains rolling back at the Prime Osborn in Downtown where they belong. The Deegan Administration took the lead in coordinating these efforts because of the city-owned property that is impacted. And it has already paid off in terms of seeking and winning these grants, building capacity to take on the work, and soon, to develop the master plan and projects for the area. This project syncs with the other JAX FAST projects, and also other interagency projects to finally bring revitalization back to LaVilla and Downtown after too many years of inertia. The initial focus is on bringing Amtrak back, but the hope is certainly to also attract potential commuter rail/regional rail and potential private rail operators in the future. This will bring in new visitors and increase tourism revenue to the city in addition to opening up new travel options for Jacksonville residents.
“We have been in communication with Amtrak throughout this process since the original stakeholder meeting and grant was received. The design and PD&E phases have not yet commenced, and the overall timeline will be determined as the master plan is developed.”
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