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Port Citrus

  • Port Citrus seeks its niche

    Editor’s note: This is the final part of a four-Sunday series in February examining Port Citrus. Today, the Chronicle looks at the proposed port site and where the project goes from here.
    Mike Wright
    Staff Writer
    INVERNESS — Brad Thorpe knows Port Citrus is not a done deal.
    It’s not a slam dunk. Not a sure thing. It could bring jobs but, then again, a lot of things have to happen for that to occur.

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  • Rail, road network poses challenge to Port Citrus

    INVERNESS — Citrus County officials believe in the viability of Port Citrus, but they also acknowledge a potential roadblock: How does product barged into the port get to its destination?

    County Administrator Brad Thorpe, who also is the port director, said a key component to the port’s success is an “inland port” being developed in Marion County at U.S. 27 and Interstate 75.

    Thorpe said product brought into Port Citrus could head to the inland port for distribution by rail or expressway to Jacksonville or up the East Coast.

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  • Waterfront futures: Port concept follows pitch for marina

    Port Citrus and Hollins­wood Harbor — how do they compare?

    When the concept of Port Citrus was launched a year ago, many Citrus County residents initially considered it a progression of the then year-old plan for a port district and a marina community on a portion of the former Cross Florida Barge Canal.

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  • Port Citrus comments

    “There’s a lot more information that we need to know, so I am awaiting the outcome of the feasibility study. Having a functioning port is a good idea, sure. But how it can function, I don’t know.” -- Jim Farley, Crystal River mayor.

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  • The birth of Port Citrus: From TSLs to barges

    Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part Sunday series on Port Citrus. Today’s articles deal with Ports Citrus plans today from a year ago; and public perceptions of the project.

    CRYSTAL RIVER — The idea seemed like something shot out of a cannon — a proposal so lofty that it left some in the audience stunned by its breadth.

    “This was really a knock-your-socks-off presentation,” Theodora Rusnak, president of the Citrus County Council, said at the time.

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  • Citrus County presentation of Port Citrus
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  • An in-depth look at Port Citrus

    Editor’s note: The Chronicle is examining the Port Citrus project each Sunday in February. The first segment deals with plans for a “Port Citrus” from the 1960s.

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  • Port Citrus had three sisters

    Editor’s note: The Chronicle is examining the Port Citrus project each Sunday in February. The first segment deals with plans for a “Port Citrus” from the 1960s.

    It may seem new but it’s not.

    The year was 1965, and work had begun to connect the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the state to the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast via a barge canal.

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  • Challenge lingers 40 years later

    Citrus County was a different place when the first port feasibility study was issued in 1969.

    For one thing, the population was only 17,000.

    But if the first study brought forth a plan that had been followed, what would Citrus County look like today? The question about products to ship out might have been solved.

    Inbound shipping in 1969 did not represent as much of a challenge as outbound shipments, according to the historic study: “Supplement Cargo Analysis — Cost Estimate” for Citrus County Port Authority.

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  • Barges work for Putnam County

    The St. Johns River, the longest river in Florida at 310 miles, never got connected to the Gulf of Mexico.

    Had the Cross Florida Barge Canal project been completed rather than abandoned in 1971, St. Johns River traffic possibly would be floating out through Inglis today.

    Still, Port Putnam in Palatka, created at the same time as Port Citrus in 1967, developed as a barge port in 1970 and never looked back. The river flows north to Jacksonville.

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