Passenger Trains > FL: BrightLine station in Fort Pierce?

BrightLine has said  that it will have a station on the Treasure Coast (Martin, St Lucie, and Indian River counties) sometime in the future. Indian River and Vero Beach have said they don't want it. Port St Lucie, the biggest town in the region, has said they don't want it, either.  Stuart is of varying opinions as to whether they want the BrightLine to put up its money and build a station. It is unlikely Stuart would spend any money on BrightLine.

Several media outlets are reporting that the town commissioners in Fort Pierce, the second largest city in St Lucie County, have authorized a transportation study of where to locate a BrightLine station in their town. An earlier proposal to locate the station just east of the FEC main and north of Avenue A collapsed when BrightLine was not awarded a development contract for a prime site.

WPBF-TV reported that the commissioners hope to have the station located downtown. North of the Citrus Avenue overpass, and south of the Orange Avenue grade crossing.  The reporter says BrightLine has not expressed an opinion or responded to their questions.

(TC Palm has a subscriber only story on the issue, and U tube has the WPBF-TV story on BrightLine in Fort Pierce)

 

Why the negative response to Brightline in these areas?

Fort Pierce would be a good location in that it has a reasonably prosperous city center near the FEC.   Seems like Port St. Lucie is all about sprawl way to the west of the FEC main.

Dave

It's not just about transporting people from Orlando to the West Palm Beach/Miami area and back. There should be a couple of stations between Miami and Orlando. It sounds like Fort Pierce would benefit from one. I believe that there have been talks about building one in Cocca.

ChrisCampi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why the negative response to Brightline in these
> areas?

There's a long history of bad blood between many towns and BrightLine. Lots of litigation.

On the or hand, fears of killer trains racing through towns and killing good town folks. On the other hand, the train may be a way to limit the growing traffic choke points on regional highways.

Posted from Android

Fort Pierce is smart.  The remaining towns are arrogant and dumb.  10 years from now they will regret it.  

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fort Pierce is smart.  The remaining towns are
> arrogant and dumb.  10 years from now they will
> regret it.  

Spot on.

Jim