JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A potential solution to the San Marco train trouble. If you live, work or even frequent San Marco, there’s probably been a time where you’ve waited for the train to pass.
Tuesday night, city council passed a bill to help fix the problem
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Erica Vanmatre faces the issue every day, and says she never knows if it’s going to hold her up for two minutes or 20.
Vanmatre says, “Sometimes it can be a matter of minutes then other times it can be backed up for miles and it just seems like you’re just sitting there hanging out.”
Tuesday was her worst encounter yet.
“My daughter had an appointment back here in San Marco. I left my office around 4 p.m. was stuck behind the train for over 23 minutes.”
They ended up being late because of it.
“It can be very frustrating.”
And Vanmatre isn’t the only one.
Back in November of 2019, we showed you video of people climbing over the train trying to get to the other side after it stopped on the tracks.
On Tuesday, city council passed a bill aimed at eliminating these delays.
The project would build more tracks at the CSX rail yard, giving more space and tracks for trains to stop at instead of in the roadway.
“I’m sure the whole entire San Marco area would be grateful for that.”
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Most of the money would come from a grant awarded to FDOT to fix the congestion caused by trains in and around downtown Jax. The city would contribute nearly $980,000.
Councilmember Matt Carlucci says the project would take about two years to complete.
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