Let’s Make Better Use of the St. Johns River

Return with me to yesteryear when the St. Johns River was used as a transportation corridor.

That could be the future as well as the past.

Sure, it’s been talked about for years, using some sort of ferry boat system to move passengers and vehicles up and down the river to help relieve congestion on overcrowded roadways.

Talk and more talk.

But we may be getting closer to seeing if such a system would work.

City officials in Palatka are pushing a plan to test a hovercraft that would be built by a Green Cove Springs company.

Ken Venables, Palatka’s general services director, provided an update for the Jacksonville Waterways Commission last week.

He said he hopes federal grants can be obtained to purchase a hovercraft that could carry 50 passengers and that would make stops in Palatka, Green Cove Springs, Orange Park and Jacksonville.

Venables said the craft, which rides above the water on a pressurized bubble of air, could travel at 60 mph and is environmentally safe and not a danger to manatees.

“We are still in the conceptual stage,” he said. “We are brainstorming.”

Venables said the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and other agencies are involved.

He said a demonstration project that would determine if a hovercraft is financially feasible and indeed safe could be up and running in two years.

“The St. Johns River is a diamond in the rough,” he said, “an asset that is underutilized.

Agreed.

This is worth a try. Next could come paddle-wheelers taking tourists and sightseers up and down the river just like in yesteryear.

That would be a welcome sight.

Speaking of a lot of talk and not much action, that’s about to change for another long anticipated project.

Waterway commissioners were told construction should begin within two months on the new Palms Fish Camp restaurant on Clapboard Creek.

It will replace the old Palms Fish Camp that was a popular eating spot that the city purchased to retain the fish camp flavor as part of the Timucuan preserve.

That flavor turned out to be a little too dilapidated and dirty so the building was eventually demolished.

For many months, the sign on Heckscher Drive proclaiming Palms Fish Camp and Boat Ramp has been a half-truth.

It will be good to see its promise fulfilled. I hope the food is as good as it once was.

There’s not much better than a day on the water followed by a fried shrimp po’boy.

As for boaters worried about losing parking at the ramp, the city has purchased an additional 3.5 acres to make up for spaces lost to the new restaurant.

Government moves slowly. At least it’s finally moving in this case.ron.littlepage@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4284

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