The Florida Department of Transportation could pay nearly half of the Jacksonville Port Authority’s up to $45 million cost to raise six high-voltage transmission lines over the St. Johns River to give additional clearance to large ships coming into the Blount Island Marine Terminal.
The JaxPort board voted 5-0 on Dec. 5 to accept an initial $1 million from FDOT for the project to raise the JEA-owned power lines over the Fulton Cut St. Johns River Crossing from 175 feet above high tide level to 225 feet.
According to board documents, FDOT will give JaxPort $22.55 million for the project over the next four years.
City Council President Terrance Freeman and Vice President Ron Salem introduced legislation Nov. 22 to fund the rest of the project.
Ordinance 2022-0874 would give JaxPort a $10 million grant, loan the authority $12.5 million and create a $5 million line of credit. The $12.5 million loan would be repaid over 10 years at 3.5% interest.
Although the bill authorizes $27.5 million in financing, the legislative summary says the total of city support would be capped at $22.5 million. The summary says JaxPort would be responsible for any cost overruns.
In May, JaxPort completed a four-year, $420 million harbor-deepening project, working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the 11-mile federal shipping channel in the St. Johns River to 47 feet to allow passage of large, post-Panamax vessels.
Post-Panamax ships are large vessels that can pass through the enlarged Panama Canal.
Leaders with JaxPort and JEA, the city-owned electric, water and wastewater utility, signed a memorandum of understanding in June that said the port would secure 100% of the funding to raise the lines. JEA would procure materials and labor to do the work.
The port plans for the project to be complete in 2026.
JEA Media Relations Manager Karen McAllister said Dec. 5 that the project timeline depends on alignment with JaxPort and the design/build process.
The current lines were installed in 1982. In December 2020, JaxPort and St. Johns Bar Pilot Association conducted a simulation that found large ships would need a minimum 197 feet of clearance to safely navigate under the power lines.
The city-owned JEA utility completed and released a feasibility study in May by engineering services company Worley that showed an estimated cost of $33.49 million to $54.42 million to raise the lines.
On March 4, JaxPort board member Jamie Shelton sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis urging JEA to move faster on a plan to raise the power lines.
That was followed by a March 30 letter to JEA CEO Jay Stowe asking for an update on the utility’s plan to ensure the power lines were raised.
JEA officials and the city Office of General Counsel helped negotiate the memorandum of understanding, according to JaxPort Chief of Regulatory Compliance Nick Primrose.
JEA board member John Baker, who was JaxPort board chair in 2019, said in April he supported raising the lines but he also acknowledged the risk and liability moving the lines would create for the utility’s electric system.
