JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax has exclusively learned the financial future of the Emerald Trail could have been in a much better place.
Instead, the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee is talking about delaying design on the unfunded portions of the path.
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Groundwork Jacksonville, which leads the project, said that won’t happen, but it’s a conversation that wouldn’t be happening if the federal grant earmarked to fund them hadn’t been pulled.
Action News Jax Investigator Emily Turner has followed the process and learned the $147 million grant was never signed.
It was awarded in March 2024, but for 16 months, it sat without a signature from the federal government before getting axed in July with the passage of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
The grant was the largest ever awarded to the city and was set to go directly into the coffers of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
As the awardee, it was responsible for putting together the grant agreement, signing it, and then getting the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration to sign it. Records show that it didn’t all happen, leaving its future in peril.
While the grant remained unsigned, memos from the new DOT secretary came out calling for an end to the grant that builds green infrastructure or is equity-focused. The Emerald Trail grant falls into both categories.
More specifically, the DOT cancellations applied to grants that hadn’t been obligated, meaning signed. The Emerald Trail grant wasn’t, putting it squarely on the crosshairs.
Action News Jax spoke with experts in federal grants and found that, had the agreement been signed, JTA could have started spending money on projects covered by the grant and been reimbursed.
JTA would have been the recipient of the grant, but multiple sources say it hadn’t gotten the grant agreement to a point where it could have been signed. We reached out to the JTA for comment and did not hear back.
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The city said JTA and employees for the city worked together on the project and were aware of its status, but Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s office wasn’t made aware until the days after Trump’s inauguration.
For the timeline to stay on track, advocates for the project have been on the hunt for funding ever since. Kay Ehas with Groundwork Jacksonville didn’t want to weigh in on the grant itself, but wants to clarify the trail’s future.
“We won’t be doing (all the segments) all at the same time,” she said, as was originally planned, “We will do one, and then the next one, then the next one, and I think we can get close to that (original) timeline … but it will depend us securing those funds.”
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The parts that need money are specifically for the construction of Robinson’s Addition, Durkeeville, New Town, and Eastside neighborhoods. While a frustrating -- and possibly unnecessary financial position to be in -- she insists the 30-mile trail will ultimately be completed.
“We were moving this project forward before we ever had gas tax dollars or a federal grant,” she said. “So we will keep moving forward because we have always believed that the funding will come.”
As it stands now, the only guaranteed public funding for the trail comes from the 2021 local option gas tax. According to the latest numbers, JTA has received $42.1 million so far, which will be split between the Emerald Trail and a schedule of other projects.
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