by David Ball
Staff Writer
The idea of parades of buses zooming through busy intersections on Downtown’s pedestrian streets like Bay and Adams has spurred concern from many over JTA’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
However, JTA has apparently cooled off from its original plans for the BRT system, at least through parts of Downtown, and is asking for input from two key groups – Downtown Vision Inc. (DVI) and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC).
“We’ve realized there’s a variety of opinions on how our bus system would move east and west,” said JTA spokesman Mike Miller. “We don’t want to do anything to detract from the economic development of Downtown, so DVI, JEDC and JTA are putting together a working group to collectively look at the entire Downtown area.”
DVI Executive Director Terry Lorince said she is looking forward to having two key Downtown groups become involved in developing the BRT system that she agrees is important for the long-term growth of Jacksonville.
“We need to consider the role of Downtown of being that portal for the bus transit system that we encourage,” said Lorince. “We know that people locate Downtown because of the access to mass transit for employees, and we don’t want to see that change but we want to minimize any negative impacts.”
JTA’s original proposal was to make certain traffic lanes of either Bay, Adams or Forsyth streets at distinct times only accessible to BRT buses. The buses would get traffic signal priority (extended green lights) and less stops to move people more quickly across greater spans of the city.
More than 300 street-side parking spaces in Downtown could be eliminated in order to make room for the bus lanes, according to JTA figures, and those lanes would be closest to pedestrian crossings and sidewalks.
Lorince said those issues detract from the goal of DVI and other groups, which is to promote lighter vehicular traffic and heavier pedestrian traffic on many Downtown streets.
“We’re all talking about the same thing, which is promoting walkability Downtown,” she said. “The question is how to provide that and provide access to bus riders.
“On Bay Street, the issues were the loss of parking spaces, the cleanliness, noise and congestion and just the regular issues associated with a concentration of more buses,” added Lorince. “I think it has to be looked at in the total context of what you are trying to do, how this interrelates with trolley and other transportation Downtown.”
However, Lorince had no concerns with JTA’s proposed north and south routes through Downtown, which are Broad and Jefferson streets on the west side of the Downtown district.
“Those streets look to be decent candidates, as they are both wide enough and don’t look as though they will negatively impact many businesses or homes,” said Miller. “And with the new (county) courthouse planned to be in that area, Broad Street in particular could be a good place to have a transit station.”
The main BRT transit stations Downtown are currently planned near Shands Hospital on the northern edge and at the Kings Avenue Garage on the Southbank, although Miller said smaller stations and those for traditional bus systems could create better access to key Downtown stops.
But to make the system possible, JTA must acquire right-of- ways and property needed for the BRT lanes and stations. Beginning in September, JTA mailed out roughly 4,000 letters to property owners near potentially impacted areas in an effort to apprise them of the situation and look for willing sellers.
“Some people thought we were in the process of taking the properties, but that’s not the case,” said Miller. “We are just seeing what interest there is out there to sell. We’re not talking price or about actually buying the properties.
“We’ve had four public hearings on Bus Rapid Transit and corridor studies, and we’ve had a number of people come up and say they are interested in selling,” he added. “Our preliminary step is to find out if they are interested, and then later in the process we’ll get back to them.”
Miller said JTA has to send data collected from the Tier One Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to the Federal Transportation Administration before it begins to acquire properties. Miller said he wasn’t knowledgeable on the process of acquiring those properties and to what extent eminent domain could be used.
As for payment for the properties, Miller said JTA has $100 million promised in the Better Jacksonville Plan and could increase that total to $400 million through matching grants from the state and federal governments.
“We’re sending up our materials to the FTA from our programmatic study, and we’re hoping to get a record of decision sometime in February,” said Miller. “At that point, we’ll look at narrowing those corridors to possible routes and then talking to willing sellers.
“But we still have to finalize where those routes are going to be, and that’s what we’ll try to do with the working group for Downtown.”
Miller said more public meetings will be scheduled through 2008, and JTA plans to have maps showing all the potentially affected properties on its Web site, www.jtafla.com, within the next week.
This shows some of the changes to Bay and Adams streets JTA had proposed as part of the Bus Rapid Transit system. The addition of dedicated lanes for BRT buses could potentially impact more than 300 parking spaces and increase noise and visual pollution, which concerned groups such as Downtown Vision Inc. DVI is set to meet with JTA and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission sometime next year to determine possible alternative routes.