A new central hub for transportation, traffic, law enforcement, and fire and rescue agencies in the four-county Jacksonville metro area will be up and running by the end of 2014.The $9 million North Florida Regional Transportation Management Center will be built on land adjacent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement complex on North Davis Road in Jacksonville.
Florida Department of Transportation District 2 Secretary Greg Evans says it will help to have everyone under one roof.
“Rather than go across town, we can go across cubicle to make the coordination that we can from all responding agencies, so that will be a great benefit,” he said.
Evans says making it easier for traffic and transportation officials to talk to each other would have led to better communication with the public during the partial collapse of the northbound I-95 on-ramps at Atlantic Boulevard and Philips Highway early Thursday morning.
“What we could have been is a little more efficient in our deployment of our messages to the public, you know, prior to the (morning) commute, to offer suggestions of alternate routes for our commuters,” he said.
The center’s state-of-the-art technology is expected to include banks of video screens for monitoring traffic cameras, traffic flow sensors, and news and weather in real time, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.
The North Florida Transportation Planning Organization includes representatives from Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
It's mission is "to provide a regional forum for developing an effective transportation system that moves people and goods safely, economically and efficiently."
You can follow Cyd Hoskinson on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
