by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
At Thursday’s Jacksonville Transportation Authority meeting, local and national experts stressed the importance of establishing an Intelligent Transportation System in Jacksonville.
The estimated $75 million system uses fiber optic cables to assess citywide traffic patterns and make corresponding adjustments and advisories.
City Council member Lake Ray, who has long advocated ITS to the City, said the meeting — “the culmination of all of the work done up until now” — may have provided the proposed system with an exodus out of its early stages by raising awareness of its benefits as well as its seemingly limited drawbacks.
Ray has also observed similar systems in Tallahassee and Dallas.
“From what I gathered today, ITS is being very well received by the different agencies who have it from all over the country,” he said. “And beyond that, there seems to be enough strong evidence to support having it in place here.
“I, for one, know it would greatly benefit our citizens, because it can increase efficiency on our roads, specifically those over capacity.”
With that information, Ray added he’d like to see ITS in place in neighboring counties. “The group that spoke today indicated that, as the entire area continues to grow, it makes sense for St. Johns, Clay and Nassau counties to become players in this, too,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be just a Jacksonville idea.
“Natural linkage of all of the counties through a master center, including Baker County eventually, would definitely work.”
Ray said the Metropolitan Planning Organization will be tapped to make that happen.
“I see them taking the political lead on this when it comes to getting everyone on the same page,” he said. “A lot would have to happen, from getting individual needs assessed, to identifying all of the funding to ultimately determining the corridors where it’s most needed.”
A bulk of the funding, said Ray, may come from federal grants.
“There’s a lot out there and it’s going to be important to see what we qualify for and how we can get it,” he said. “Clearly, Jacksonville is focused on growth so the sooner we can work toward implementing ITS the better.
“We need to get together all of the policy making bodies in the City, including the mayor’s office and the City Council, and let them know what our needs are and how we can best approach them with what we all heard today.”