The Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center at LaVilla (JRTC) is an

intermodal transit Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths (and offset the weaknesses) of various transportati ...

station in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. It serves the

Jacksonville Transportation Authority The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is the independent agency responsible for public transit in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and roadway infrastructure that connects northeast Florida. However, they do not maintain any roadways. ...

(JTA) bus system, the

First Coast Flyer The First Coast Flyer is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Jacksonville, Florida, owned and operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). It currently consists of four radial routes running north, southwest, southeast, and east fr ...

bus rapid transit (BRT) system, and the

Jacksonville Skyway The Jacksonville Skyway is an automated people mover in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). Opening in 1989 with three stations in Downtown Jacksonville, the Skyway was extended in 19 ...

monorail, as well as home to JTA's administrative offices.

History

LaVilla station was one of the three original

stops that opened with the initial Phase I-A segment in June 1989. It was originally called "Terminal Station" in reference to the Jacksonville Terminal, a former train station that was converted into the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center in 1986 and renamed "Convention Center" in reference to the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. Built to provide public transit access to the Convention Center, it is the western terminus of line, which ran east to Jefferson station and

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

. All three stations were renovated in 1997, when the Skyway transitioned from

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and we ...

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

technology. The station has an adjacent

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

lot. The City of Jacksonville had long planned to incorporate the site into an

station, with the return of rail service to the Jacksonville Terminal. In May 2017, JTA announced that the station would be closed about two months later for the construction of the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center (JRTC). The station reopened as part of the new Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center on May 4, 2020.

LaVilla Station

LaVilla Station (formerly Terminal and Convention Center) is a Jacksonville Skyway

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

station. It is located on Bay Street just west of Jefferson Street in the

LaVilla LaVilla is a historic African American neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida and a was formerly an independent city. It developed after the American Civil War and was eventually annexed to the city of Jacksonville in 1887 and is now considered pa ...

neighborhood of

Downtown Jacksonville Downtown Jacksonville is the historic core and central business district (CBD) of Jacksonville, Florida USA. It comprises the earliest area of the city to be developed and is located in its geographic center along the narrowing point of the St. Jo ...

. It is across the street form the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center and the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center.

Future and proposed projects

First Coast Commuter Rail The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is the independent agency responsible for public transit in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and roadway infrastructure that connects northeast Florida. However, they do not maintain any roadways. ...

is a proposed passenger rail system serving Jacksonville and the Northeast Florida region. It is currently in the early planning stages. Three routes were analyzed in depth: north to

Yulee, Florida Yulee is a Census county division (CCD) in Nassau County, Florida, United States. The population is currently 28,798 as of April 2018. Yulee is part of the Jacksonville metropolitan area, which was home to 1,504,980 people in 2017. Today, t ...

, southwest to

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is named after the portio ...

, and southeast to St. Augustine, Florida.

Brightline Brightline (reporting mark BLFX) is an inter-city rail route between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida that runs on track owned by Florida East Coast Railway. Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad ...

is an inter-city passenger rail system between

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

with an under-construction extension to

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

. Jacksonville is a likely expansion point for the near future, as the FEC Railway already owns the tracks running there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacksonville_Regional_Transportation_Center_at_LaVilla Jacksonville Skyway stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1989 Transportation in Jacksonville, Florida Bus stations in Florida 1989 establishments in Florida