Staff Writer
During its monthly meeting Thursday, board members of the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization heard more about a proposed regional transportation center that will bring numerous organizations together under one roof with the goal of alleviating area traffic quicker.
James Bennett, Florida Department of Transportation District 2 planning manager, and Pete Vega, FDOT District 2 Intelligent Transportation Systems manager, gave an overview of the impact the transportation management center will have when built during the department’s next fiscal year. The center will house officials from the Florida Highway Patrol, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Transportation and City traffic engineers under one roof. It will also improve the lines of communication between departments when responding to traffic accidents and help inform motorists of major slowdowns.
The ITS program is a federal program with an emphasis on intelligent vehicles, infrastructure and a transportation system. Increasing Northeast Florida’s ITS programs has been a focus of North Florida TPO.
The $16 million center will be federally funded, which opens up additional funds for North Florida TPO to allocate toward other projects. Last month, Bennett asked the organization to set aside $2 million of the newly freed funds as a type of insurance toward the project’s cost. The reasoning, he said, was to prevent any type of slowdown should funding issues arise during the design and build of the facility. The money would be returned to North Florida TPO if it isn’t spent. Bennett’s presentation was a result of board members wanting to learn details of the project despite the fact they approved the measure last month.
Vega explained the importance of ITS and the need for traffic officials from each agency to be in close proximity. Valuable time is lost, he said, coordinating rescue, alleviating traffic routes and informing the public by making calls to each individual agency. Vega said 10-15 minutes alone is lost during each accident due to the extra communication needs.
“The city and those who drive are really going to see the benefit of this center,” said Vega.
In addition to those agencies, the Jacksonville Port Authority and organizations like North Florida TPO could have offices in the building should the need arise, said Vega. The planned two- to three-story building is tentatively scheduled to be built Downtown between Bay and Forsyth streets near the Osborn Center, said Bennett, and the federal funds will become available July 1.
Other news and notes from the meeting:
• Board members received a Spaceport Master Plan Presentation from Mark Bontrager, Spaceport operations vice president of Space Florida. Bontrager is meeting with all the metropolitan planning organizations in the state for input on its ever-changing plan (which Bontrager said will be updated in June) and told of its mission to drive economic development and continue to be a world leader in aerospace.
Bontrager also discussed how diversification into areas some might not think would be associated with space (like agriculture and adventure tourism) have become part of the focus. He said its success would have an impact statewide.
“There is a tremendous benefit from space,” he said, later adding: “I think the future looks bright, though, even with federal pullback.”
• The meeting was the first for Department of Transportation District 2 Secretary Alan Mosley, who was appointed to the position after Charles Baldwin resigned. After an initial joke (“What am I supposed to do?”) when called upon for agency updates, the former chief administrative officer under Mayor John Peyton said he was anticipating working well with the organization, was looking forward to the challenges and expected to do great things.
• Nassau County Commissioner Danny Leeper assumed the role of chair for the meeting, as both Chair Doug Conkey and Vice Chair Stephen Joost were absent. Conkey was tending to business matters while Joost — the CFO for Firehouse Subs — is in Haiti, helping distribute food on behalf of Firehouse. St. Johns County Commissioner Ken Bryan was also in attendance, filling in for Philip Mays.
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