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Tuesday marked the historic start of construction for the Mile Point Harbor Improvement Project.
State and local leaders met at Helen Cooper Floyd Park with a Manson Construction crane in the background to announce the start of the project.
The chairman of the Jaxport Board of Directors, John Newman, said the project will alleviate a long-time problem.
“It eliminates the difficulty of the tides being so strong coming north and south converging,” said Newman.
Mile Point is the spot where the St. Johns River meets the Intracoastal Waterway.
For years it’s been causing delays for large ships that have to wait until high tide to pass, allowing passage only two times a day.
“Imagine the impact on commerce, imagine the impact on getting stuff to distribution centers and to customers,” said Newman.
Gov. Rick Scott announced the state has put up $43.5 million in tax dollars for the project.
“We are going to spend your tax dollars, your state tax dollars, where we can get a return,” said Scott.
This year’s transportation budget includes $9.3 billion; about $146 million of that is going to Florida ports.
According to the Florida Department of Transportation, Jaxport will get $23.6 million. A Jaxport spokesperson said about $11 million of that is being put aside for harbor deepening. The hope is to get more help from the state.
“If it's really about jobs and it's really about a return to the taxpayer, they're [the state] willing to invest. I'll work with the port to make the case to get more dollars here for the deepening,” said Curry.
Port leaders said harbor deepening can’t move forward unless Mile Point is fixed. The Mile Point Improvement Project is expected to finish by winter of 2016.
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