SKYWAY IN THE NEWS

[Ocklawaha]

Yeah, it's more than just weight. A good chunk of the Skyway's infrastructure would have to be ripped out and replaced to accommodate the differences in slope and radius of curves. Add in the fact that Jax is closer in scale, size and density to Dayton, OH than it is to a first tier American city like Chicago, and it makes little sense to invest in the expense of heavy rail in a community this small.

RAPID STREETCAR could easily handle the Skyway grades and be MUCH LESS of an investment, but we may have to stick with a monorail or a rail system such as the one Severn-Lamb is marketing recently. Otherwise the width of regular streetcars would trash about 3' feet on every station platform. The worst thing about any full size rail vehicle is at the bottom of the Acosta Bridge grade on the north bank. The Skyway clears the bridge bent by a mere foot, and its squeezed between the bridges. This will dictate a smaller automated rapid transit system (which easily can run on rails) at much less cost then monorail. We could also go with monorail by the same company. Severn-Lamb came up through the amusement park industry and after building the Disney fleet graduated to the major leagues, but they still specialize in compact attractive vehicles. See the videos:

Great work Ock!!  Glad to see you in the news again.   

I liked Mark's article.   Seems he has been lurking here and learning a thing or two about our transportation possibilities.

Well done everyone!  Let's keep working on getting more of our population engaged in our transportation future and hopefully we'll have a strong grassroots support system for something big.

Thank you Jason, we've got to get the advocacy moving and we already have a HEAVY WEIGHT endorsement. St. Augustine is playing with some pretty exciting plans which I'm working on. And now believe it or not... PALATKA too! (They once had a horsecar system - think MAIN STREET USA - DISNEY) Severn-Lamb built those cars too. Mark talked with me probably an hour and was very alert to the fine details... THANK YOU MARK! WELL DONE!

The little train that could
http://www.youtube.com/v/v0rUUZKE3LQ?hl=en_US

Notice the wide beam monorail at the very start of the video...just like ours.
http://www.youtube.com/v/iFC4RkCAsJ4?hl=en_US

[SightseerLounge]

I seriously doubt that Skyway infrastructure could support the type of heavy rail cars that the CTA's "L" utilizes. Maybe it can get away with streetcars but even that would require a major retrofit.

avatar 09/18/13 - 11:34 am00
Not to mention that the thing is almost 25 years old and will probably be due for some major repair work in the next few years - what is that going to cost?
http://mayportmirror.jacksonville.com/opinion/premium/blog/401949/mark-woods/2013-09-18/mark-woods-extending-skyway-has-some-merit

Chicago's 5000 series cars come from the thoughts of someone going to the extreme! (Me. Lol!)

"Avatar" brought up an interesting thought: The inevitable repair work that has to be done to the Skyway! The retrofit is coming anyway, so this is the perfect time to consider some upgrades to the Skyway. It has to be done! No one knows what to do with the Skyway, and that is why I say that they should rethink this while they have a window of opportunity! Look at how many times that the Matthews Bridge has been "repaired." How many times has the Arlington Expressway been "under construction?" The Skyway should get the same treatment instead of it just remaining redundant! Yeah, it's finally starting to show signs of life, but the Skyway needs a heart transplant!

[SightseerLounge]

Actually the weight difference isn't that great 57,000 pounds for the 5000 series cars and 48,000 for the Flexity Light Rail cars for example. But the other infrastructure for heavy rail + expense could never be justified in Jax... probably for another 100 years or so. Light rail, rapid streetcar, and automated rapid transit as well as a limited amount of monorail product could be purchased MUCH cheaper and would do the job better for a city of our size. Sorry, but if you've just got to have modern heavy rail, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Baltimore are your best bets.

Something has to be done with that Skyway! Even if the UMIII's are still used, the system has too undergo some changes!
I like the monorail in certain cases! I could see a use--Miami-style--if the JTA connects something to the endpoints. Maybe, when commuter rail comes along, this thing can finally do what it was meant to do!

[thelakelander]

IMO, the Skyway should be viewed as a part of a regional transportation network.  Sometimes I think we tend to isolate it because it's our only form of a locally fixed transit component. We want to make it operate like a Chicago EL or NYC Subway when it isn't a heavy rail system.  It's literally a horizontal elevator that was designed to be a downtown circulator and nothing more.

Nevertheless, whatever, is addressed in its future should be done in a manner that has regional impact.  To me, this means not doing something just to do it.  If it makes more sense to add streetcar, BRT, LRT, etc. in a corridor that the Skyway was originally supposed to address or technologically it should not, so be it.

With that said, I believe the proposed commuter rail, streetcar corridors and a complete revamp of the bus system complement the Skyway pretty well.   Doing these things in a manner where they're coordinated with the Skyway's operations is effectively "doing" something with the Skyway.  Sort of like making it fare free is a form of "doing" something with the Skyway to enhance its performance.