The chief executive of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority says a $147 million federal grant for the city’s Emerald Trail is at risk and that the JTA is working to protect it.
Speaking May 2 to the JAX Chamber Downtown Council, JTA CEO Nat Ford said local officials are “very concerned” about the grant, which was awarded to the city in the spring of 2024 under the Joe Biden administration.
On March 11, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, an appointee of President Donald Trump, issued a directive to review grant projects and renegotiate or cancel any incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion; climate change activities, environmental justice; gender-specific priorities; bicycle infrastructure; and electrical vehicles and EV charging infrastructure.
“In Washington, there’s a review of all grants that are underway, obligated and unobligated grants, in terms of do they fit into the new administration’s vision related to transportation infrastructure,” Ford said.
Ford said the JTA was working with its lobbyists, the Northeast Florida congressional delegation and Mayor Donna Deegan’s office to “try and ensure we can wall off that $147 million and make sure we get it to Jacksonville.”
In March 2024, Ford and several city elected leaders appeared at a ceremony hailing the federal grant, the largest one-time infusion of federal funding the city had ever been awarded. U.S. Reps. John Rutherford and Aaron Bean both supported it.
The funding came through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Neighborhood Access & Equity Program, for which Jacksonville submitted an application in 2023. The city was one of 132 awardees among hundreds of applicants from all 50 states.
Ford said the federal funding would allow for the completion of the 30-mile Emerald Trail “many years earlier than we’d planned.”
With the DOT grant, JTA is leading a partnership with the city and nonprofit Groundwork Jacksonville to build the five last segments of the trail. They are:
• Segment 3, connecting Riverside to McCoys Creek.
• Segment 4, connecting built portions of the S-Line Rail Trail, which begins at Myrtle Avenue near State Street and runs northeast through Durkeeville and Springfield ending behind Norwood Plaza in Brentwood.
• Segment 6, connecting North Riverside with the neighborhoods of Woodstock and Robinson’s Addition.
• Segment 7, connecting Durkeeville, College Gardens and New Town.
• Segment 8, connecting Phoenix and Springfield.
Fully built, the trail would connect 14 urban neighborhoods to Downtown, the St. Johns River, McCoys Creek and Hogans Creek. Also on the trail would be 16 schools, two colleges, three hospitals, 21 parks and the JTA’s Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla.
Under the direction of Groundwork Jacksonville, the trail master plan was developed by the PATH Foundation, which built more than 260 miles of trails throughout Georgia, in concert with landscape architect KAIZEN Collaborative.
Construction began in August 2021. May 2024 marked the opening of the first segment, the 1.3-mile LaVilla Link.
Officials are aiming for completion in 2030.
Once work is finished, the city will maintain and operate it with support from Groundwork Jacksonville.
