THE SKYWAY SHOULD BE...?? POLL

[Timkin]

If you're serious about that post, I like it.   For this thing to really pay off it has to go to real destinations. going simply across the bridge to Friendship and North to Union will never make it profitable. it has to branch out.

[stjr]

If you're serious about that post, I like it.   For this thing to really pay off it has to go to real destinations. going simply across the bridge to Friendship and North to Union will never make it profitable. it has to branch out.

Timkin, not so fast.  Even Ock will tell you the system isn't designed for such long distances.  Brooklyn, San Marco at Atlantic, Shands and the Stadium are about the outer limits to this system as I get it.  Based on the comments posted on MJ, many people supporting "expansion" here are like Keith, they think the system can go way beyond what it is designed for.  Wonder what they would think if they understood the truth?

[Timkin]

Could the "rail" that these are on be retrofitted for Monorail? ...like Disney has had for ages?? just curious.  Keep the "skyway" local as it is currently designed, but go Monorail or some similar thing to outlying areas?

Am I mistaken or does MARTA in Atlanta have a monorail system in place now?

[Timkin]

just throwing ideas out ... I cannot imagine that this skyway thing has been used enough to be worn out

[buckethead]

The Skyway is a monorail.

[tufsu1]

as stjr has noted, the Skyway can only be extended so far...however, there is no reason we couldn't build a regional system that tied into it....for example, the skyway could go to the stadium area and then people could transfer to BRT or light rail...take that over the bridge and onto the beach.

[heights unknown]

I know I am late in posting, and, I have not read other posts indicating where the skyway should be extended to, so, here is where I would extend the skyway to:

Northside (Springfield, etc.)
Northside (all the way to Airport and neighborhoods surround I-95)
Westside (out to Cecil Commerce Center)
Southside (Southbank, San Marco, etc.)
Southside (neighborhoods surrounding U.S. 17 (Roosevelt) out to NAS Jax and Orange Park)
Southside (neighborhoods around I-95 south extending to St. Augustine)
Eastside (from downtown to Sports Complex)
Eastside (from downtown to Jaxport and surrounding neighborhoods)
Eastside (from downtown to Arlington Expressway & surrounding neighborhoods out to beaches)

I know this is a bit much and justification for extending based on ridership would possibly be hard to do, but hey, maybe "build it and they will come" might just work.  Also, $100 million might not be enough to extend to all of the proposed destinations.  But anyhoo, the aforementioned are where I would like the skyway to extend.  Though I didn't select it, I probably would raise the fares to bring in more money to assist in ensuring that the extensions are completed.

Lastly, I have not forgotten that bus routes already operate in these locales, but maybe somehow we could get the two to work together by extending to a certain point in these areas, and then providing the bus service on to the last destination point(s).

"HU"

[Ocklawaha]

"The whole thing was a huge mistake, it should never have been done. I shut down the construction and proposed to abandon the thing when we learned we'd have to pay back the Federal Government every penny of the cost. So the whole system failed to move forward from there, they're just not making an effort to fix or justify its presence."

MAYOR ED AUSTIN, yesterday, Riverside

The point was taken that once the city put the Skyway on ice and reviewed it's cost either to keep or scrap the monorail the judgment call was to move on and integrate it into a regional system. The disappointment, silence, lack of conviction, or imagination coming from JTA has been a disaster.  BTW, the former Mayor said he very much supported Real Trolleys.

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

as stjr has noted, the Skyway can only be extended so far...however, there is no reason we couldn't build a regional system that tied into it....for example, the skyway could go to the stadium area and then people could transfer to BRT or light rail...take that over the bridge and onto the beach.

Very true friend TUFSU.  I'd say the practical limits on extensions or end points would be the East Bank of the St. Johns River near the foot of "new" Matthews Bridge, perhaps JU. To the Southeast, about Memorial Hospital. To the South, Jackson Square.  Southwest? PS-4. West? Farmers Market. North, to Shands or the S line terminal behind shands.

One of the quickest fixes we could do under capital costs would be a series of covered sidewalks, halls, to serve as pedestrian gateways to the Skyway. In short - CONNECTIVITY.  Likewise making each Skyway Station a destination would have tremendous impact. How beautiful would the view be from an elevated walk or grand paseo from the San Marco Station to Atena, Baptist, and Nemours? The grand paseo would be something like the airport concourses with lots and lots of thermal glass. There might even be room for a mini-food court, restrooms, street performers and vendors... Hell let Simon Malls market the damn thing.


OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

The Skyway is a monorail.

Correct and arguably a better one then the mouse has!

OCKLAWAHA

[Coolyfett]

The Skyway is a monorail.

Correct and arguably a better one then the mouse has!

OCKLAWAHA

Dude why do you keep saying that lol the disney system is bigger than the Jax system....explain what you mean.

[Coolyfett]

Could the "rail" that these are on be retrofitted for Monorail? ...like Disney has had for ages?? just curious.  Keep the "skyway" local as it is currently designed, but go Monorail or some similar thing to outlying areas?

Am I mistaken or does MARTA in Atlanta have a monorail system in place now?

The Marta uses heavy rail transit. No trolleys, no commuter rail or monorail. Just Buses & 38 Heavy Rail Stations

[Ocklawaha]

It's not the miles that count in quality, just as it's not the number of rabbits that make a good stew. placing a couple of thousand feet of Disneys monorail next to ours would exhibit many differences. Disneys is a fancy ammusement ride and ours is a well made transit system with much more in the way of high tech safety equipment then Disney employs. In fact next to any other world system, the Skyway stands up under the microscope as well done.

Bottom line, even if you hate the Skyway, it is a Rolls Royce of a mini-transit link. This is a fact that has come home to bite us in the nether regions.  The costly little railroad by virtue of it's overbuilt-quality may have shot itself in the foot from the get-go.

Timkin, MARTA is heavy rail, just like any other Subway or Elevated electric railway, with steel wheels on steel rails, ditto for Miami, and DC. We have the only monorail in our region except for Mickeys, Bush Gardens and similar railways.

Speaking of Mickey, wouldn't the Main Street USA horse car line look sweet in St. Augustine?

OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

Well Savannah does have a short trolley line, why not here? Horse drawn cars could be a  tourist draw, and darn sure does not require power or fossil fuels to run and we could use the end product to beautify downtown! That park next to City Hall could use some free fertilizer for sure since the fourth floor seems to let their end product sift down to the taxpayers, which tells me just what city hall thinks of us voters! It could be the "Jacksonville Horse drawn  Line" and lets go from there!

[SightseerLounge]

Who will clean up the do-do!? Recession jobs guaranteed!