A Closer Look at the Transportation Center

[jason_contentdg]

We have not invested in rail upgrades in many decades. Now rail is  hot and wow, we are behind in infrastructure to make it happen here. Streetcars for urban transit make great sense but putting in new tracks, power lines, buying the cars, hiring the drivers costs big time.  Jacksonville can't do that; it costs too much.
JTA wants BRT for Jacksonville. Citizens want more sidewalks, bike lanes, bus shelters. Good grief, where the heck is the money going to come from? What are Jacksonville's most important transportation needs?

Building a fancy courthouse doesn't get us more judges and a better legal system. Building great looking schools doesn't give Duval a better education system.  You think, in terms of priorities, we should focus our money and effort on a great looking transportation center. I don't.

The only flaw with your complaint is it doesn't cost any more to build a nicely designed building than one that isn't designed well.

[fsu813]

Looks like a blah suburban high school to me....

[thelakelander]

Just wanted to chime in and say a decent architectural design does not have to cost one more money than a bad architectural design.  Case in point, check out Detroit's new Rosa Parks Transit Center in downtown.  This $22.5 million complex includes 15 bus bays for local and suburban buses, a peoplemover station and bays for Transit Windsor.  It also doesn't take decades of planning.  This project went from concept to completion in two years.

Btw, its designed to take advantage of natural light and harvests rainwater.









For more images: http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-architecture-rosa-parks-transit-center-uses-natural-light-harvests-rainwater/

Detroit's $22.5 million Rosa Parks Transportation Center on Michigan Avenue is open for business today, roughly two years after planning began.

Mayor Dave Bing and Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick attended a dedication yesterday an unveiled a plaque honoring Parks, according to WWJ.

"Every one of us in this room today owes a debt of gratitude to Mother Parks, whose quiet strength and courage became a catalyst for the movement that brought down Jim Crow," Bing said.

The center includes 15 bus bays and serves as a hub for city and suburban buses, as well as the People Mover and Transit Windsor.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/07/detroits_225_million_rosa_park.html

[avonjax]

I don't hate the design, but it's typical conservative Jacksonville. I fear we will never "break the mold" that has plagued Jacksonville design for the last 60 years.

[Dapperdan]

Is it just me or does that clock look like the Back to the Future clock tower?

[JaxNative68]

We have not invested in rail upgrades in many decades. Now rail is  hot and wow, we are behind in infrastructure to make it happen here. Streetcars for urban transit make great sense but putting in new tracks, power lines, buying the cars, hiring the drivers costs big time.  Jacksonville can't do that; it costs too much.
JTA wants BRT for Jacksonville. Citizens want more sidewalks, bike lanes, bus shelters. Good grief, where the heck is the money going to come from? What are Jacksonville's most important transportation needs?

Building a fancy courthouse doesn't get us more judges and a better legal system. Building great looking schools doesn't give Duval a better education system.  You think, in terms of priorities, we should focus our money and effort on a great looking transportation center. I don't.

no, but if you are going to build it why waste the money to make it look like a cat's ass

[ralpho37]

Who is going to use this? 

[hooplady]

no, but if you are going to build it why waste the money to make it look like a cat's ass

Unkind to cats!

[tufsu1]

The only flaw with your complaint is it doesn't cost any more to build a nicely designed building than one that isn't designed well.

while this can be true, more often than not it isn't!

[tufsu1]

your usually lame Burger King or other mystery meat cafe that seems to always find a home within a bus station serving something that only someone stranded for hours by the bus could possibly eat.

sorry but that's something a snob would say!

Most major transportation centers have a fast food establishment in them...because they are quick and easy.

[JaxNative68]

especially in Jacksonville, when contractors in this town see any plans that are not a tilt-up concrete box, they panic and put a huge price tag on it.  Then they offer a "VE" alternate of a tilt-up box slightly under the original budget and the city and/or developers jump on it.  After which they get change ordered to death and the tilt-up box becomes more expensive than the original design.

[JaxNative68]

your usually lame Burger King or other mystery meat cafe that seems to always find a home within a bus station serving something that only someone stranded for hours by the bus could possibly eat.

sorry but that's something a snob would say!

Most major transportation centers have a fast food establishment in them...because they are quick and easy.

. . . and cater to the trapped people . . . when it's fact, it’s not snobby.  Have you ever found yourself going out of your way to eat at a Greyhound station?  I’m guessing no.

[TheProfessor]

Maybe people who work at JTA will use JTA now??

[tufsu1]

. . . and cater to the trapped people . . . when it's fact, it’s not snobby.  Have you ever found yourself going out of your way to eat at a Greyhound station?  I’m guessing no.

As a matter of fact, on occasion I got lunch at the bus station in Tallahassee (my office was 2 blocks away)....and I regularly go to places like Burger King, Arby's, etc.

[CS Foltz]

I still say "Pretty" but agree it is not something that would be considered timeless! Reminded me of a School at first glance but as I said before pretty! Somehow I think we could do better.........something that could be considered "Timeless" or at least pretty 30 years from now! For the money being considered we should and deserve the best we can get and for what it will cost (?)......I am hoping that it won't be $350 Million Dollars like our edifice of a Courthouse! For that kind of money we should get a world class rail system in downtown and the outlying area's.