Helicopter Work Begins on Project to Raise Power Lines Over St. Johns River at Fulton Cut

Helicopter operations began over the St. Johns River in late July as JEA moved into the next phase of a multiyear project to raise high-voltage transmission lines at Fulton Cut, the narrow waterway leading to JAXPORT's Blount Island Marine Terminal. The work will increase operational clearance under the lines to 205 feet, allowing larger container ships to safely navigate the river's 47-foot-deep federal channel.

The project, a partnership among JEA, the Florida Department of Transportation, the City of Jacksonville, and JAXPORT, is designed to accommodate the newest generation of cargo vessels and support the continued growth of international container trade in Jacksonville. JAXPORT officials say the container business sustained by the terminal supports approximately 15,000 regional jobs.

What's happening

Over the next several months, JEA will use helicopters to string new electrical conductors—the thick cables that carry power—across the St. Johns River between raised transmission towers. According to JAXPORT, the helicopters initially pull ropes and pulleys across the span; those are then used to draw the heavy conductors into place on the new, taller structures.

The Fulton Cut Power Line Project involves raising JEA transmission lines that cross the river near the entrance to Blount Island, where JAXPORT operates Florida's largest container terminal. The existing lines set a height limit that restricted which container ships could call at the terminal. The new configuration will provide 205 feet of vertical clearance above the water—the measurement known as air draft in maritime operations.

JEA began constructing the taller transmission towers on either side of the river in earlier phases of the work. The helicopter operations that started in late July mark the milestone of physically connecting the new towers with live electrical infrastructure. JEA is Jacksonville's city-owned electric, water, and sewer utility, one of the largest municipal utilities in the United States.

The project is funded through a combination of city, state, and port authority resources. Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan emphasized the city's financial stake in remarks released by JAXPORT: "As this vital project reaches a new milestone, the City of Jacksonville's investment will create jobs, attract new businesses, and continue growing our port that is already a global leader in trade."

Why vessel clearance matters to Jacksonville's port economy

The height of the power lines directly determines which ships can reach Blount Island. Modern container ships have grown dramatically in size over the past two decades, with cranes, masts, and stacked containers reaching well above the waterline. A ship whose superstructure is too tall cannot safely pass under fixed obstacles like transmission lines, bridges, or cable crossings.

JAXPORT's Blount Island terminal sits roughly 20 miles upriver from the Atlantic Ocean, accessed via a federal navigation channel that has been deepened to 47 feet to accommodate the draft—the underwater depth—of large vessels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed that harbor-deepening project in recent years, making Jacksonville one of the few East Coast ports able to handle the heavily loaded ships that transit the expanded Panama Canal. But the air-draft restriction at Fulton Cut meant many of those vessels still could not call at Blount Island if their above-water profile was too tall.

By increasing the clearance to 205 feet, the project removes that bottleneck. Shipping lines can deploy their largest container ships to Jacksonville without worrying that cranes or stacked containers will foul the power lines. JAXPORT CEO Eric Green framed the investment in generational terms: "By increasing the air draft at Florida's largest container port, we're enhancing our ability to serve larger vessels, strengthen supply chains and support thousands of jobs connected to international container trade."

Container terminals typically generate economic impact through direct port jobs, trucking and logistics employment, warehouse operations, and the businesses that rely on efficient import-export access. JAXPORT estimates the container trade at Blount Island sustains 15,000 jobs across Northeast Florida. Expanding the terminal's capability to handle the largest ships is intended to keep Jacksonville competitive as shipping lines decide where to route vessels and as cargo volumes grow.

How the project supports JEA's grid and future development

While the immediate driver is port access, the transmission-line work also serves JEA's electric-system needs. The utility is replacing aging infrastructure with modern, more reliable transmission towers and conductors. JEA Managing Director and CEO Vickie Cavey noted the dual benefit in a statement: "The Fulton Cut Power Line Project strengthens JEA's commitment to customers with improved reliability while we support future economic development for Northeast Florida."

The transmission lines in question are part of JEA's high-voltage backbone, carrying power across the St. Johns River to serve customers on the Northside and in areas east of the river. Replacing decades-old structures with new towers built to current engineering standards reduces the risk of outages from equipment failure or storm damage. The new conductors also have greater capacity to handle load growth as the region adds population and industrial users.

The project illustrates the intersection of utility infrastructure and economic development that characterizes much of Northeast Florida's growth planning. Industrial expansion—whether at the port, in distribution warehouses, or in new manufacturing facilities—requires reliable electric supply and often triggers utility system upgrades. For JEA, a municipal utility whose customers are also the city's residents and businesses, large infrastructure investments like the Fulton Cut project require coordination with city government, which ultimately oversees JEA's operations and capital budget.

Jacksonville City Council President Nick Howland framed the project as an economic development accelerator: "Every investment in our fast-growing port is an investment in jobs for Jacksonville. By raising the power lines to accommodate larger ships, JAXPORT and JEA are accelerating international trade, growing our City's economy, and creating more opportunities for Jacksonville businesses and families."

What Northside and port-area residents should expect

The helicopter operations and conductor installation will continue over the coming months. This phase of construction is highly visible—helicopters flying low over the river towing lines—but the work itself takes place over the water and on JEA's transmission-tower sites, which are not in residential areas. The towers are located on industrially zoned land near Blount Island and on the opposite shore.

Residents near the Northside waterfront, Dames Point, and the Timucuan Preserve area may see and hear the helicopter activity during daytime working hours. JEA typically schedules such operations during periods of good weather and light winds to ensure safety. The utility has not announced any power outages associated with this phase; JEA generally energizes new transmission infrastructure in stages and transfers load from old lines to new lines in a controlled sequence to avoid service interruptions.

The Fulton Cut crossing is west of the Dames Point Bridge (I-295) and east of the Mathews Bridge, in a stretch of the river bordered by the Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve on the north and industrial port facilities on the south. Boaters transiting the area should be alert to construction activity and any Coast Guard notices to mariners, though the federal navigation channel itself remains open during the work.

What happens next

JEA's helicopter operations to string conductors across the St. Johns River will extend through the remainder of 2026 and into early 2027, according to the project timeline shared by JAXPORT and JEA. Once the conductors are installed and tensioned, JEA will complete final electrical connections, testing, and energization of the new transmission path. The old, lower lines will then be decommissioned and removed.

JAXPORT has not announced a specific in-service date for the 205-foot clearance, but port officials have indicated the project is on track for completion in 2027. Once operational, the increased air draft will allow JAXPORT to market Blount Island to the global shipping lines that deploy the newest and largest container vessels, many of which currently bypass Jacksonville for ports with fewer height restrictions.

The completed project will be one element in a broader set of investments at JAXPORT. The port authority has spent the past decade deepening the harbor, expanding container-handling capacity at Blount Island, adding ship-to-shore cranes, and improving landside access—an effort to capture a larger share of East Coast container trade and compete with rivals in Savannah, Charleston, and South Florida. The power-line clearance, while a relatively obscure piece of infrastructure to most residents, is considered critical to that competitive positioning.

For Jacksonville, the Fulton Cut project is a case study in how regional economic growth depends on coordinated investment by city government, state transportation agencies, the port authority, and the municipal utility. As container shipping volumes grow and vessel sizes increase worldwide, the ability to handle the largest ships translates directly into cargo throughput, logistics jobs, and the region's attractiveness to importers and exporters. Clearing the bottleneck over the river keeps Northeast Florida in the competition for that trade.