TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NUMBER TWO£ INVENTORY OF FLORIDA STATION DEVELOPMENT SITES AND OPPORTUNITIES Enabling StaJion Area Development in Florida: Towards More Cost Effective Rail Transit Investment for Office of Public Transportation Florida Department ofTransportation 605 Suwanee Street (MS 26) Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450 TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NUMBER TWO: INVENTORY OF FLORIDA STATION DEVELOPMENT SITES AND OPPORTUNITIES Enabling Station Area Developnumt in Florida: Towards More Cost Effective Rail Transit Investment for Olfoce of Public Tnwponation Florida Depanment of Transportation 60S SuWOIUlM S~rnet (MS 26) Tallaluwcc, Florida 32399-0450 through Center for Urban Transportation Re•eareb College of Engineering, University of South Florida 4202 B. Fowler Avenue, ENB 100 Tampa, PL 33620·5350 (813) 974-3120, Fax (813) 974-5168 by Tnwit Solutions 4612 Evanston A venue North StanJe, WA 98103 (206) 632·3443, Fax (206) 632·3444 Email: [email protected] March 2000 Project Manager Ronald C. Sb<ck Pl'()ject Staff SooUPlaee TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART), Ybor Streetcar 4 System Description System Map Station Development Opportunity Summary Station Profiles JacksonviUe Transportation Authority (JTA), Skyway 30 System Description System Map Station Development Opportunity Summary Station Profiles Metro Dade Transit Agency (MDTA), Metrorail 48 System Description System Map Station Development Opportunity Summary Station Profiles Metro Dade Transit Agency (MDTA), Metromover 92 System Description System Map Station Development Opportunity Summary Station Profiles Tri County Commuter Railroad Authority, Tri Rail 100 System Description System Map Station Development Opportunity Summary Station Profiles Resources 138 INTRODUCTION Perspective. Station area development requires stations. With each new rail iransit system constructed in the United States, station area development appears to becoming a more important aspect of rail transit investment. In order to apply in Florida what has emerged as a successful strategy in other communities, it is essential to know what the potential for its application is in this state. A logical place to begin is to review our assets. Although Florida is probably not perceived as a rail transit state, either by its residents or outsiders, rail transit (in its various dimensions) is a component ofpublic transportation in southeast Florida, in Jacksonville, and soon will become a part ofthe transit mix in Tampa. In late 1999, rail transit served 44 stations in the metropolitan Miami area, another 14 in Broward and Palm Beach counties and 6 stations in Jacksonville. Two additional stations will open in JackSonville in March, 2000. Tampa has begun construction on a streetcar line that will have 12 stations when service is inaugurated in 2001. By late 2001 , there will be nearly 80 rail transit stations in the state. Miami has plans for further expansion of its Metrorail system. If all of these plans were implemented the rail system in Miami Dade County would double in size, and add over 30 new stations. Plans are being developed for a rail system in the greater Tampa area of Hillsborough County. This system contains 30 stations. Orlando recently scrapped plans for a light rail system that would have 17 stations in its first phase. The possibility exists that Orlando will revisit light rail on a different corridor, or in an attenuated version. Jacksonville is studying rail transit in three corridors. Pinellas County (St. Petersburg and Clearwater) is studying a major guideway project in the lJ.S. 19 Corridor. A plan by the Tampa/Orlando 2012 Olympics Committee calls for an intercity rail link to connect those two cities and also serve intermediate points. While it is beyond the scope ofthis study to investigate the total range of planned rail transit projects, it is essential to inventory existing conditions. This is what this technical memorandum is all about. It establishes the "state of the station" for rail transit in Florida today. Approach. Constructing an inventory ofrail transit station area development in Florida has required several steps. The research team first identified those communities with rail transit. Rail transit was defined broadly to include widely recognized light rail, heavy rail and commuter rail technology. Since light rail has evolved out of traditional streetcar technology it seemed only appropriate to . include planned, and now under construction in Tampa, streetcar development. Another technological variation that is grouped in with rail transit is the automated guideway technology. This does not operate on traditional railroad tracks, although it has many ofthe characteristics ofrail transit in that the wheels ofthe vehicle are guided by·the supporting structure upon which they rest. Florida has two examples of this technology in transit service today: Miami and Jacksonville. Heavy rail transit, or rapid transit, is exemplified by Miami' s Metrorail system. Heavy rail operates on a grade separated right-of-way. In Florida, this is an elevated structure. Another traditional rail transit Enabling Station Area Development 1 Tech Memo Number 2 technology, that does not yet exist in Florida, is light rail. Light rail evolved in post World Warll Europe as cities adapted former streetcar systems to new environments by putting portions of lines on private right of way outside of city centers, mixed in with running in the streets downtown. Or sometimes reversing the situation with street running in the suburbs and in subway tunnels, or on elevated structures, downtown. Orlando's now defunct plan included a key light rail component. Tampa is considering a regional rail system that would incorporate three lines and use a diesel version oflight rail transit. The last example of rail transittechnology to be used in Florida is commuter rail. Commuter rail operates in a traditional railroad environment, usually sharing tracks with freight trains or intercity passenger trains. Tri Rail inaugurated Florida's first commuter rail service in 1989 · between West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami. In order to understand existing and future. roles of station area development, it was necessary to conduct a survey of each ofthe transit systems with rail service. Research carried out by the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida was useful in identifying characteristics of station area development. This research had surveyed numerous rail transit systems across the country as part of a project for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to identify factors that contribute to the success ofi.nvesuncnt in rail transit. As part ofthis research some information was obtained on the systems in Miami and south Florida. To supplement this information an extensive set of field visits to rail and guideway transit systems in Florida was made. Documents were collected from each system that identified station locations and general characteristics. Maps and aerial photographs were examined before going into the field to look at each station. Several field visits were made to each station on systems operated by Metro Dade Transit Agency (Mctrorail and Metromover); Tri County Commuter Rail Authority (fri Rail); Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA); Orlando-Seminole-Orange County Transit Authority (Lynx); Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART); and to local government planning offices in several counties and cities where stations exist. Appropriate staffwere interviewed at these agencies. In the field, notes were taken on each station site. Photographs (35 rom slides, and digital images) were taken of stations and the area around them. This ipformation was then brought together and analyzed to obtain the best possible understanding ofwhat exists at each site; what is planned (where plans exist), and what opporllmities are available. Vacant land and older buildings were considered the most likely potential development sites. What follows is an inventory ofexisting stations on Florida's rail and guideway transit systems. One new system under construction, the HART Tampa-Ybor City streetca,r, is included. Although data was collected, and is available, for the proposed light rail system in Orlando, and the diesel light rail system in Tampa, these arc not included. A September 1999 vote by county commissioners has derailed the planned Lynx light rail project. The proposed Tampa Early Action Rail Project for 28 miles of light rail and 30 stations was not included in the December 1999 recommendations of the Enabling Station Area Development 2 Tech Memo Number 2 Hillsborough County Commilte\l of 99 established by the County Commission to prioritize transportation investments, an action that will make moving the project ahead more difficult. Presentation: A section on each of Florida's rail transit systems follows this introduction. The systems are listed in alphabetical order by transit agency, from HART to Tri Rail. For agency systems (MDTA has two: Metrorail and Metromover) the stations are listed in sequential order from north to south. A brief introductory section and a system map is provided at the beginning ofeach system. A standardized format has been used to present the information. The following items are included in the inventory of each ofthe stations: • A schematic system route diagram showing the location of each station in the system, with the one featured highlighted. • . An aerial photograph of the station