Jacksonville Florida Outer Beltway $2 billion+ toll concession on the go - RFQ

Florida DOT has the America's largest private toll concession on the go with a request for qualifications (RFQ) for investor groups to finance, design, build, operate, maintain and toll a 74km (46 mile) $2.2b highway on the southwest edge of the Jacksonville area. The project involves a long river crossing, 14 interchanges and ten more overpasses. Called the First Coast Outer Beltway (FCOB) the project is a consolidation of two earlier projects:

- Branan Field Chaffee Road, the northern portion in green ina nearby map, a part of which is built and under construction

- St Johns River Crossing and new approach roads in the southern section (in pink in a map nearby)

An L-plan the 2+2 lane expressway will take off southward from I-10 in Duval County west of Jacksonville spawning eight interchanges in some 50km (30 miles), then swing east and cross the tidal St Johns River on a 3km 10,000ft) bridge with six more interchanges and a plug into I-95 south of Jacksonville. The road varies between about 20km and 35km (12 to 20 miles) out from downtown Jacksonville.

The river crossing is on a wide lazy section of the river upstream of the port of Jacksonville so it only needs to provide for recreational boating underneath. The water is shallow so functionality won't dictate any spectacular spans. The new 2+2 lane tolled bridge will replace a deteriorated 2 lane Shands Bridge that carries FL16 over the river at present.

The overall project is largely settled and permitted.

Some segments are already under construction including the I-10 interchange at the northern end and parts of the Branan Field Chaffee Road segment.

Local support for the project is strong.

For example, the local newspaper, the Jacksonville Times-Union, wants the project done quicker and bigger than proposed by FDOT. It urges the southwest area route be continued north of I-10 into Nassau County to form a half belt around the whole west side of the metro area.

"Nationally and statewide, toll roads are providing the answer," said the newspaper in a recent editorial, which recognized the potential of highway speed electronic tolling to overcome old objections to tolling based on manual collection.

The permitting and construction risks of the project are small.

Is it too much on the outer?

Major questionmark hanging over the Outer Beltway project is whether it's too much on the Outer to generate the needed traffic to be a fully viable toll project.

2015 traffic projections are light ranging from a few thousand to 30k vehs/day in different segments. By 2030 the forecasts range 23k to nearly 80k/day. These forecasts are heavily dependent on population growth.

The southwest where the road is located is at least the major area for new development in the Jacksonville region.

Nearby I-295, FL21 and US17 all have peak hours congestion now.

Extra lanes are planned for several of these roads, and taking this into account the modeling forecasts little long distance end-to-end trips on the FCOB. That is true of many outer belt routes. They tend to be used most heavily for movements between radials.

The modeling shows the heaviest traffic is at the ends in feeding I-10 and I-95 and in getting across the St John River.

A report by Infrapartners (Jeffery Parker and Christina Simon) estimated that revenue maximizing tolls would be 20c/mile (12c/km) in 2000$s and 27c/mile in 2015$s.

They found the project was marginal as a concession project.

The Turnpike passed

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise passed on the project because they estimated that at $2.23b project cost they could bond finance only $1.65b, leaving a gap of $580m.

FDOT want to see if the private sector with equity capital can do any better.

Population growth and development

The Jacksonville area has about 1.2m people. In the last census in 2000 it was the US' 46th metro area with 1.1m, an increase of 21% over the 1990 population of 0.91m.

Its population growth has been similar to that of Miami, slower than Orlando and Atlanta GA but faster than Tampa and Charleston SC.

The area longrange transportation plan is based on assumed growth in population of 63% 2000-2030 to 1.8m. (based on the MPO area of Clay, Duval, Nassau, St Johns counties)

The planners state confidently: "Our region will continue to grow over 50% in the next 25 years." (FCMPO, LRTP Summary).

Vehicle miles traveled are forecast to grow from 32m to 55m, by about 70%. The area is planning - yes planning - for vehicle-hours of delay on area roads to increase from 476k to 961k (unit unclear) based on a so-called cost feasible plan.

[The US Census Bureau's projections for Florida are for 79% growth in population 2000 to 2030 so the Jacksonville area 63% assumptions, are not out of line if you believe the US numbers.]

The concession term is expected to be between 35 and 75 years. All toll revenue risk will be borne by the concessionaire.

Schedule

The procurement schedule is:

2008-03 RFQs due

2008-05 Recommended short list

2008-05 draft RFP released for comment

2008-07 final RFP issued

2008-10 Proposals due

2008-12 Concessionaire selected

2009-04 Concession contract signed

2012/2013 open to traffic

The project impacts 152 parcels of land, requires relocating 42 (33 homes, 9 businesses). FDOT will use its eminent domain powers in support of acquiring right of way for the project.

Unselected proposers may get compensation for some of their expenses.

Concession politics

Unlike Texas where there has been great sound and fury surrounding investor toll concessions it has been almost completely uncontroversial in Florida - so far at least. Virginia and Chicago also have accepted private highway operations with hardly a raised eyebrow, let alone the protractedly raised voices of the arguments in Texas, Indiana, and New Jersey.

It does seem to help for a public toll authority to say they can't do the job. The City said that in Chicago, the not-for-profit was going broke in Richmond and the state DOT wasn't interested in doing the Dulles Greenway. And in Jacksonville the Turnpike says it can't make the Outer Beltway work. Concessionaires as the last resort!

There is a lot of useful information at this website

http://www.fdotfirstcoastouterbeltway.com

Another project

The area longrange plan says another toll project is toll express lanes along FL202 Turner Butler Blvd in Duval County, costing $120m.

A history of tolling in Jacksonville

The Turner Butler Boulevard was actually built as a tollroad, Florida's short version of the Virginia Beach Expressway, or New Jersey's Atlantic City Expressway, a quick route to the Atlantic coast beaches.

Also the two I-95 bridges in the Jacksonville area were originally toll financed:

- Fuller Warren Bridge, a bascule span just south of the downtown built in 1954 and demolished five years ago when a new segmental box girder bridge replaced it

- Trout River Bridge on I-95 several miles north of central Jacksonville a similar vintage 4 lane bridge just recently replaced too

Other toll financed bridges in Jacksonville were:

- Hart Bridge (see nearby picture) and Hart Bridge Expressway FL228 immediately southeast of downtown over the St Johns River, opened in 1967 steel through-truss bridge 1171m long, main span 332m

-Mathews bridge Arlington Exwy US90, FL115 immediately east of downtown over the St Johns River, opened 1953, 2248m steel through truss bridge

Detolling 1989

All these toll facilities lost their tolls August 1989 after a referendum in the city in Nov 1988 when voters narrowly (71k to 68.5k) approved a half cent sales tax to finance the removal of tolls.

Reportedly tolls were disliked mainly for the queueing at toll plazas. The cost of toll collection relative to revenues was also cited in favor of the tax.

Just as they were removing tolls in Jacksonville technology was providing the solution to queues at overcrowded manual toll plazas. The first electronic toll transponder was being deployed on the Dallas North Tollway in Texas by Amtech in the summer of 1989.

First bridge over St Johns River in 1921 toll financed

The Acosta Bridge, the first bridge across the St Johns River in Jacksonville which opened in 1921 was toll financed according to a 5 page history "Crossing the St Johns" from the City of Jacksonville. It says tolls were:

- 2c pedestrians
- 3c cars and buses
- 25c motor trucks
- 50c ox drawn vehicles

The bridge apparently was a financial success - the city account doesn't say if it was public or private - and a major stimulus to economic development especially on the south bank. Tolls on the Acosta Bridge were removed in 1940. It too has since been replaced by a more modern bridge, untolled - 1992.

Important port

Jacksonville is based on the port provided by the bay formed by the entry of Florida's longest river into the ocean. It was an established city during the American civil war before anyone lived in swampy Miami or grassy Orlando and when Tampa was a small trading post with a reputation from its time when it was a haven for pirates.

The US Navy has always had bases here, and the Port of Jacksonville is Florida's third port after Miami and Tampa. Its position at the junction of I-10 and I-95 gives the port a reach beyond the state.

First Coast?

Jacksonville's use of the moniker First Coast is mainly boosterism by the local civic promoters, but it was an area of European settlements in Florida by the French (Ft Caroline) and Spanish (St Augustine) back in the 16th century. First infelicitously named Cowford after a ford where cows were herded across the river, it is named in honor of Andrew 'Old Hickory' Jackson (1767-1845), military hero of French and Indian wars and 7th president of the US (1829-1837) who however never had anything to do with the city, and grew up in the Carolinas and lived mostly in Tennessee.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-12-17