Let’s Get Back to the Basics at JTA

[jaxlongtimer]

^ That looks like it would follow the hotel driveway (what would the hotel have to say about that or is that built in to their master plan?) and cut through JEA's water and electric utilities campus as I speculated above.  It would then have to somehow circumvent a building hugging the FEC tracks identified by Google maps as Gulfstream Contracting and then force some kind of change to the track and field at Landon Jr. High.  The proposed end at Southern Grounds appears to also be in use/privately owned.  And, how close can it hug the FEC tracks?  Is there really room for a double track and the separation needed at the end for vehicle reversal? 

Sorry, I don't see this path without a very large right of way cost and other technical issues.  For money, I am sure anything is possible but is it justifiable to my point.  Maybe in 2010 the pathway was clearer and that is now a lost opportunity?

Seems my suggestion to stop short of that behind the public library would be a lot easier to implement if even that could be done.

Sorry, but I think all this is dreaming as I have said before.  I just don't see an appetite anytime soon for expanding the Skyway.  It will be lucky for its proponents if it can just stay close to the way it is for now vs. shutting it down for good.  To your point, perhaps, if JTA had only focused on the Skyway and never pursued NAVI, the Skyway may have had a better chance of survival.  I said all along, NAVI was a potential knockout punch for it and the Skyway.  Two strikes in this case to an out.  Maybe curtailing bus service is strike three.

[thelakelander]

The average person doesn't have to "see" a path or try to answer the necessary widths, determine ROW needs, minimal turning radius for various technologies and rolling stock, cost estimates, where passing sidings must go, etc.

That's the purpose of doing unbiased planning, analysis and engineering studies, etc. with trained experts in the field. After the house is set back in order at JTA, Jax should start over with visioning what its regional public transportation should be before making any rash +$100 million decisions for any mode.

[jcjohnpaint]

The one thing I don't get is why the elevated tracks can't be used for another technology. Here in Jacksonville, I feel like they are looked at as only the obsolete cars can run on them, so we might as well tear the tracks down. When I travel to conferences, I always try and ride the streetcars. They are slow as they move in mixed traffic, always stopping for whatever obstacle they encounter on the streets. I usually give up and uber due to time restraints. Having elevated tracks getting out of mixed traffic is such a benefit.

[thelakelander]

The one thing I don't get is why the elevated tracks can't be used for another technology. Here in Jacksonville, I feel like they are looked at as only the obsolete cars can run on them, so we might as well tear the tracks down.

The elevated infrastructure can be used for another technology.