Southbank Riverwalk 2/26/15 Ribbon cutting ceremony 12pm Friendship Fountain

[Noone]

Anyone going?
Bring your bike. On second thought are they allowed?
At the end of the walk have lunch on the top floor of Duval County Public Schools building.
What an opportunity.

[David]

Just toured the Southbank Riverwalk the other day with Haskell. They've fixed the circular bench width issue by removing a 1/3rd of the piece from it. There's enough clearance for three people to easily get by.  Haskell's project manager said COJ is not allowing bikes on it.

One of the big new draws will be the LED lighting that can change to any color on demand and the underpass at the main street bridge is lit up blue at night, goes well with the blue paint mimicking the river. There's also supposed to be an artist mural painted on the walls of the underpass, in an attempt to thwart graffiti.

There's already been some minor vandalism though; someone tried to pry one of the light fixtures up with a crowbar. They didn't get it, but now it's slightly damaged and raised up. Most people probably won't notice.

And one last thing, there's a drinking fountain for your doggies at the beginning of the Riverwalk near friendship fountain. It's really low, near the ground. Try not to confuse it for a bɨdet!

[johnnyliar]

Haskell's project manager said COJ is not allowing bikes on it.

Wow. That's a shame. Where does the "no bikes" portion of the river walk begin?

[jaxjaguar]

By eliminating bikes from the riverwalk, they're basically removing half of the people who would use it... if not more. I bike along the north bank all the time / see tons of others doing it as well.

[Noone]

Can people arrive by boat or kayak and dock at the new Floating docks?  Is that signage in place? Better yet  there is a Public Use for the floating dock where does a guest park on the Southbank and then walk to the dock to join that person or persons? Have an email in to Jack Shad about this. Also mentioned this at the 2/24/15 DIA Board meeting during Public comment and the area is between the Penninsula and the Charthouse.

[Noone]

By eliminating bikes from the riverwalk, they're basically removing half of the people who would use it... if not more. I bike along the north bank all the time / see tons of others doing it as well.

Does anyone else feel sorry for the Baltimore guys 2014-412? Were bikes going to be allowed on the water taxis? We can transport them on a JTA bus. Also mentioned this at the 2/24/15 DIA board meeting why the water taxi contract was never before the DIA. At the last Waterways Commission meeting Tera Meeks mentioned JTA when talking about the expired water taxi contract.

Visit Jacksonville!

These same concerns can happen at Shipyards.

[jaxjaguar]

I don't know the current rules, but the water taxi should operate under the same conditions as the SkyWay as far as bikes go. As long as it's not during peak hours you should be allowed to bring your bike aboard. It would be silly to not allow them aboard.

[David]

By eliminating bikes from the riverwalk, they're basically removing half of the people who would use it... if not more. I bike along the north bank all the time / see tons of others doing it as well.

They've never technically allowed bikes on the Southbank Riverwalk. I had one of those downtown ambassadors yell at me to get off my bike once, but, just keep pedaling. You can outrun them!

[jaxlore]

that stinks about the bikes. i wouldn't ride on there anyway before because of the wood, but you would think that they would have the same rules for both sides of the riverwalk now that there the same material.

[Awlloyd7]

Does anyone know what time?

[Noone]

5 hours out. Can't wait. Is it being reported on any radio or TV stations?

[coredumped]

Probably not live, but I'm sure media will be there and they'll have a blurb on the news and website.

[thelakelander]

12 noon. I plan on taking the Skyway at lunch to the Southbank to check it out.

[tufsu1]

There will be several announcements as part of the festivities.  These include the idea of having an entertainment barge on the river at Friendship Fountain. 

You can check the idea here

https://www.facebook.com/TheBargeJax

[thelakelander]

^The barge thing is an idea that has been floated around, every now and then, for the last decade or so. It's cool to finally see it pick up some momentum.