{"id":171819,"date":"2025-08-24T13:47:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171819\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T13:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:47:28","slug":"jta-receives-15-6m-grant-for-second-st-johns-river-ferry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171819\/","title":{"rendered":"JTA receives $15.6M grant for second St. Johns River ferry"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The St. Johns River Ferry is now set to get some much-needed help, in the form of an extra ferry boat, thanks to a $15.6 million investment by the Department of Transportation<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move now promises to add to what many in the Fort George Island, Mayport, and Jacksonville communities rely upon as an alternative way across the St. Johns, instead of dealing with extra miles and traffic on the Dames Point Bridge.<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean I\u2019ll do 75 [miles per hour] on it, but then people cross in front of me at 90,\u201d Jacksonville local Brett Melvin told Action News Jax Wednesday. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, this isn\u2019t safe.\u2019 So I find [the ferry] safer. I find it less congested. I find it more peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement also comes after Action News Jax told the community in May<\/b><\/a> when the lone ferry operating went out of service entirely, and stayed out of service for weeks.<\/b><\/a> That temporary loss of service happened after the current boat crashed into the boarding ramp<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

Commuters like Lauren Inman told Action News Jax Wednesday it will be nice knowing a second ferry boat will now always be at the ready in times of need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like a bridge to the rest of A1A. It\u2019s necessary for a lot of people,\u201d Inman said. \u201cI\u2019m a native Jacksonville person, and I remember when there were two ferries before, so I\u2019m thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n

Now, Jacksonville locals say the hope is with a second ferry on the horizon, it will not only add an extra option during times of maintenance, but possibly lead to expanded service for the community at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think would be good, though, if they\u2019re going to do that, to go in every 15 minutes instead of every half hour from either side, let them cross in the middle,\u201d Melvin said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not making money with it, it\u2019s not doing you any good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Action News Jax has reached out to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, which operates the ferry, to see if there are plans to expand service frequency now with two ferries set to be in operation, but are still waiting on a response.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The St. Johns River Ferry is now set to get some much-needed help, in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":171820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[98104,12189,98103,15619,5229,98102,3188,723,98100,7310,98098,425,12188,98099,31005,98101,98096,67,586,132,5230,68,98097,2969,3893],"class_list":{"0":"post-171819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-a1a","9":"tag-action_news","10":"tag-action_news_gen","11":"tag-action_news_jack","12":"tag-america","13":"tag-dames_point_bridge","14":"tag-fl","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-fort_george_island","17":"tag-jacksonville","18":"tag-jacksonville_transportation_authority","19":"tag-local","20":"tag-logan_mcdonald","21":"tag-lord_mcdonald","22":"tag-mayport","23":"tag-saint_johns","24":"tag-saint_johns_river","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-us_department_of_transportation","31":"tag-usa","32":"tag-x"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115084056677519362","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}