by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
When you hear the term “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT), you might form a mental picture of 40-foot-long buses screaming down the streets of Downtown at 60 miles an hour.
Jacksonville Transportation Authority officials have been holding public meetings to change that perception and explain the details of the BRT plan.
It will take about 20 years to complete the entire system, but the BRT theory goes like this: One day, people will be able to travel most of the county using mass transit that will pick up riders in the suburbs, bring them to a central transit hub Downtown, then carry them quickly and economically to other parts of the area.
Senior Transportation Planner Suraya Teeple said the JTA has been studying mass transit options for years.
“It’s a viable alternative,” she said. “We’ve built roads and built more roads, but we can’t build enough roads. The population is growing and it’s aging, and that means more people will take advantage of mass transit options if they are available.”
Teeple is also the JTA’s BRT project manager. She said Downtown will be the first phase of the project because so many buses go through Downtown: 27 streets are used for bus routes that serve the area or connect at the Rosa L. Parks/FCCJ Transit Station between State and Union streets.
Bus routes will be consolidated and simplified to make way for lanes reserved exclusively for BRT during peak commuting hours.
After the routes change, Teeple said, trolleys will be used Downtown to provide service to existing stops not covered by the new routes. The JTA will buy more trolleys and expand the trolley system “in order to provide better, more frequent service.” She also pointed out that trolleys cost less to operate per hour than buses – something that would save the JTA money because riding the trolley is free.
By using designated diamond-marked lanes and not having to share the travel lanes with other vehicles, buses can cover a route in less time. There will also be new traffic signals installed that will give priority to mass transit and keep the signals green longer when buses approach an intersection.
”Having the dedicated lanes is what makes BRT work,” said Mike Miller, JTA director of external affairs.
He also said the JTA is adding 24 new buses to the fleet that will be used for the BRT system and on other routes. The new buses will have low floors as well as wider doors and aisles for easier boarding and will be capable of using either conventional fuel or bio-diesel.
Teeple said another part of the concept is what she called “Super Stops.”
“They will have improved shelters with route maps, better signage and modern technology that will be able to alert riders when the next bus will arrive,” she said.
Four different combinations of new east-west and north-south paths are currently being considered. One would use Bay Street for westbound routes and Forsyth Street for eastbound travel with connections to the Southbank traveling over the Main Street Bridge. Another would use the same streets and directions, but connections to the Southbank would cross the Acosta Bridge.
The other options include using Adams Street for routes in both directions between Jefferson and Liberty Streets, with connections to the Southbank using the Main Street or Acosta Bridge.
Miller said the routes over the Acosta Bridge are under consideration due to possible future development plans to increase pedestrian traffic over the Main Street Bridge.
The final decision on which route plan to use will be made based on a combination of public input and design and cost issues, according to Miller.
“Parking Downtown is one of our main concerns and there are some parking issues,” said Teeple. “We will take some of it away during peak travel hours, but most of it isn’t available during peak hours anyway. We realize that’s controversial.”
The final design for the Downtown phase of the project should be complete by next summer and the system is expected to be in full operation by late 2009.
In cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) the JTA is also preparing a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) and engineering study, also known as a Tier 1 EIS, for the proposed Jacksonville Rapid Transit System (RTS). That’s the longer-range, 20-year plan to bring mass transit to the entire county.
The PEIS will meet guidelines regulating implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the joint FTA and Federal Highway Administration NEPA procedures.
The JTA was allotted up to $100 million of the forecasted Better Jacksonville Plan bond proceeds to purchase rapid transit right-of-way.
Teeple said after the PEIS is finished, “we’ll come out of that with a list of all the properties we’ll have to buy to build the entire system.”
The JTA has identified four major corridors for the project, with Downtown, also called the central business district (CBD), as the hub of the layout:
• North Corridor, extending from the CBD to Norwood Avenue and Lem Turner Road
• East Corridor, extending from the CBD to Regency Square Mall
• Southeast Corridor, extending from the CBD to Baymeadows Road
• Southwest Corridor, extending from the CBD to 103rd Street and Timuquana Road
Much of the funding needed to complete the RTS will come from the federal government.
As required by the FTA, the RTS has been adopted as part of the Cost Feasible Long Range Transportation Plan of the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, a requirement to get federal money for a project. It assures that the region has sufficient local funding identified to build and operate the RTS.