Review: Development Opportunities on the FEC Corridor: An Interactive Forum from 4/17/13

Click title for .pdf of program.  Pertinent section appears below.

The south Florida urban planning world has been all "a buzz" about the re-initiation of passenger service on the Florida East Coast (FEC) tracks - this is the easternmost rail right-of-way through Palm Beach County, neighboring Broward County and into Miami-Dade.

WORK IN PROGRESS

It is important to note that with the 2010 Census, West Palm Beach and most of urbanized Palm Beach County is included in the Census as one Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).  With the addition of part of Palm Beach County, our metropolitan region has a total of 5,564,635 inhabitants.  This makes it the eighth largest metropolitan area in the nation.  The city of Lake Worth's 36,000 + residents make up part of that total, which equates to .65% (that's less than one percent of the area's total population).

Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach MSA

With the Atlantic Ocean as a barrier to the east, environmentally sensitive land (the Everglades) to the west, the Keys to the south and with the urbanized area stretching about as far north as it can go, the only way that we will be able to accommodate expected population growth and maintain some type of mobility within the region is through the re-invigoration of our train and transit alternatives.  That is what those of us heard who attended this symposium last Wednesday (4/17/13).

The first evidence of this reality is "All Aboard Florida."  This is an effort by the privately held Florida East Coast Industries, Inc., which owns the right-of-way and currently operates a freight operation on those tracks.  The last passenger service on these tracks occurred in 1968.  For more history on the rail line, click here.  For the early history as told by the FEC's resident and pre-eminent historian Seth Bramson, check out a recent "High Noon in Lake Worth" show when Mr. Bramson was a guest.   Suffice to say that south Florida and Lake Worth would not be the same had not Flagler extended his railroad down the east coast of Florida during the late part of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  This new service is designed to move people from cars to trains and airplanes to trains for a "premium" three hour trip from Miami to Orlando, with stops in Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.  The timeframe for establishing this service is two years, with work on the right-of-way between Miami and West Palm Beach beginning later this year.  Click here for frequently asked questions regarding All Aboard Florida.

Keep in mind that the above is separate from the transit service on the same FEC tracks - the roll-out of that service will be over a three to five year period, starting now.  The Palm Beach County leg that will run from Pompano to Jupiter will be the last phase, but still within that time frame.

The following comes from notes taken during the various panel discussions.  The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) is already underway with many projects to expand service north to Jupiter through a connection between the CSX and the FEC tracks (the CSX tracks are the western set that already carry Tri-Rail, Amtrak and freight traffic).  As the SFRTA implements transit service on the FEC tracks, some freight traffic will move to the CSX tracks.  There will be areas that will need to be double-tracked along the FEC.  The SFRTA already has received federal government support to expand its Tri-Rail service.  It has recently received 12 new trains, will be taking over a new maintenance yard and will be receiving air rights at Miami International for a major multi-modal transit facility.  SFRTA is also underway with a critical new link in the Pompano Beach area that will bring the two lines - the FEC and CSX - together.  Service on the eastern tracks will begin first south of Pompano Beach and will be fed for the initial period from only the CSX tracks.  The last phase will be the initiation of service - through Lake Worth - from Pompano to Jupiter.  It is expected that this portion of the transit service will have one hour headways - meaning that there will be an hour's wait between trains.  This will not make it a pure "commuter" service but it is a start.

Some facts you may not know about Tri-Rail:  It was originally started as a stop-gap method to eliminate bottle necks on I-95 during its expansion in the early 90s and was expected to be in existence for only 5 months.  It has since become a part of a regional transit system that runs 50 trains a day on weekdays and 30 trains a day on weekends.  Average weekday ridership is currently 13,300 riders and the system experienced record ridership of 4 million passengers in 2012.  Current Palm Beach County Mayor Steve Abrams is also the current Chair of the SFRTA. (Note to readers:  Mr. Abrams will be a guest on my Internet radio show "High Noon in Lake Worth" this coming Friday - 4/26)  He also happens to be a regular Tri-Rail commuter.  They expect that 2013 will break the record for ridership set in 2012.

The "Coastal Link" expansion is expected to cost between $700 to $800 million.  The following slides are taken from the PowerPoint presentation put together by William Cross, P.E., Manager of Planning and Capital Development SFRTA.

A future post early this week will detail further project costs, station locations, possible transit oriented development in Lake Worth and expected community financial contributions.  However, these are the economic gains expected as a result in investment in rail transit throughout the eastern part of the metropolitan area:

More to come...