by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
Taking a bus, train or even the Skyway in Jacksonville will all become a little easier, but it will be a couple of years before ground is broken on JTA’s Transportation Center – the multi-modal transportation hub that will be based around the Osborn Center.
Joe Debs, senior vice president of transportation/infrastructure for Reynolds, Smith & Hills, Inc. said the Jacksonville Transportation Center will be the city’s multi-modal center for transportation. The Transportation Center — which is in the preliminary design phase — will be built to the north and south of the Osborn Center and will cost $120 million. The funding will come from a combination of state, local and federal money and more specifically, the Florida Department of Transportation, JTA and the Department of Transportation.
“The Skyway, parking, buses, trains, retail, administrative offices and a traffic management center will all be brought into a single development,” said Debs at last week’s Downtown Council meeting.
Surrounding the Osborn Center will be an Amtrak train station, a Greyhound bus terminal, a JTA bus terminal, the Skyway station, an inner-city rail terminal and an inner-city bus terminal. In addition to the different modes of transportation, there will be a public plaza, retail space, JTA’s administrative building and a traffic management center, which is a computerized traffic control center.
“In the 1920s, the Jacksonville Terminal was the busiest railroad terminal in the southeast,” he said. “We want to bring that back to town and replicate what was done more than 100 years ago.”
Debs said the Greyhound Bus terminal will also be incorporated into the center.
“Greyhound has committed to this and it will be big enough to handle 100 buses a day,” he said. “The McDaniel Building will be restored and used as a dormitory for the drivers.”
Debs said the architectural, engineering, planning and environmental firm has been coordinating with the Jacksonville and the Beaches Visitors & Convention Bureau and others on the expansion of the Osborn Center to make sure the center can be physically expanded to meet the needs of the Center.
“Currently we are in the preliminary design phase and by the end of the summer we will be in the final design phase,” said Debs. “We are hopeful that in two years construction (on the Transportation Center) will begin.”
In addition to the Transportation Center, a rapid transit system study is being done to improve the current bus system.
“We will be setting up corridors, bus lanes and special stations,” said Debs. “The first phase is about to hit the streets.”
A transit-oriented design station will be built on Riverside Avenue near Forest Street and serve as a base for the trolleys and built in such a way that it can be expanded for the Skyway. It will include a trolley and transit stop, space for retail and pedestrian access to the Riverwalk. According to Debs, it will be completed before the Transportation Center.
Debs added there are other transportation centers like this throughout the country. The Jacksonville Transportation Center will be most like Union Station in Washington, D.C., he said.
“The Transportation Center is not only going to function as a transportation port, but also a real enhancement for the city,” said Debs.