(The following story by Peter Guinta appeared on the St. Augustine Record website on August 18, 2009.)
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Perhaps you want to see Fort Lauderdale or Miami without driving on the 12-lane madhouse that’s Interstate 95.
Or perhaps you want to sit comfortably and read The St. Augustine Record while on the way to your office job in Jacksonville.
Within three years, Oldest City residents could very well be able to hop an Amtrak commuter passenger train and get off at any city along Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Dozens of the top planning, engineering, aviation and public works experts met Tuesday at St. Augustine City Hall to discuss what information is required for a transportation grant application.
The group’s goal is to secure $85 million to $90 million — though some estimates say $100 million — to put two trains a day on a rail passenger line from Jacksonville to Miami.
Though that amount may seem high, it’s a pittance compared to the proposed $3.5 billion High Speed Rail line that is expected to run from Tampa to Orlando.
Kim Delaney, of Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, said the U.S. government set aside $8 billion for transportation projects nationwide but has already received 278 applications totaling $102 billion.
She wants some of the money in Florida’s Stimulus Plan for Florida East Coast Railway’s partnership with Amtrak. So far, 83 agencies, communities and others have sent letters of support.
“The (grant) application is due Oct. 2. We’ve got five weeks to do a year’s worth of work,” Delaney said. “We’re going to put together the best application we can.”
This project was proposed in 2000 but ended when the federal government told Amtrak to stop negotiations with FEC.
But Delaney said, this time, the proposal has a better chance of success. In 2008, Amtrak’s budget was doubled to $13 billion over five years, and the stimulus legislation added another $8 billion.
“The train will cross 350 miles through nine counties and 8.3 million people,” Delaney said. “We could be totally operational by October 2012.”
Treasure Coast RPC has taken the lead on this, passing a resolution saying their regional plan “encourages the creation of a balanced and integrated transportation system, with strong emphasis on a regional mass transit system.”
Each Amtrak train can carry about 300 passengers, aiding economic development along the route.
For St. Augustine, three possible station locations are being considered. Only one will be chosen.
The first is on Florida East Coast property west of U.S. 1 near King Street, the second where San Marco Boulevard merges into U.S. 1, and the third is west of U.S. 1 at St. Augustine Airport.
Mark Knight, director of planning and building for St. Augustine, said the site at U.S. 1 and San Marco, near the Winn-Dixie shopping center, had been used as a railroad depot in the 1960s.
“There’s plenty of land there, It won’t be crowded like the King Street site,” he said.
Ed Wuellner, executive director of the Airport Authority, said the airport site would spur commercial and industrial development in that area, already has a dual track and avoids duplicating existing infrastructure.
“There’s already a feasibility study funded,” he said.
The negative is that a passenger overpass must be constructed over U.S. 1.
Delaney said three projects from Florida are seeking federal dollars.
“This is the only one where Amtrak is a partner,” she said. “That’s a plus. You don’t need to choose one by Oct. 2. You don’t even have to prioritize them, You just have to identify them.”