QuoteA growing number of Jacksonville City Council members say it's time to reopen an agreement struck in 2021 that commits $247 million in local gas tax money for overhauling the downtown Skyway's elevated structure so self-driving transit shuttles can travel on it.
If a review of the agreement between the city and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority ends up shifting some or all of the $247 million to other purposes, it would deal a blow to expanding the NAVI system that started last year along east Bay Street and has been slow to attract passengers.
City Council member Rory Diamond said based on his talks with JTA board members and feedback from City Council members, he thinks JTA and the city would be willing to renegotiate the contract that can only be changed by mutual agreement.
"It's not going to be fun," Diamond said Aug. 21 during a meeting of the City Council Finance Committee. "It might get a little rodeo-crazy, but I think at the end of the day we'll have a better product than what we locked into from 2021."
The $247 million for converting the elevated Skyway structure so rubber-tired autonomous transit shuttles can run on it is the single biggest item in a list of 17 projects the city authorized JTA to carry out using proceeds from doubling the local gas tax.
The next-biggest item is $132 million for the Emerald Trail network that will connect neighborhoods with 30 miles of paths for walking and bicycling from downtown into surrounding areas.
QuoteNat Ford's departure from JTA removes NAVI champion from debate
The JTA board intends to picks someone from within JTA this month to be interim CEO and then launch a national search for a permanent CEO.
Employees who applied by the Aug. 14 deadline for the interim CEO job are Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Cleveland Ferguson, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Smith and Senior Vice President and Chief Infrastructure and Development Officer Greer Gillis.
Also applying are JTA administrator Richard Clark, who served on the Jacksonville City Council from 2005 to 2015, Controller Russell Caffey, and former chief financial officer Raj Srinath.
JTA could hire a permanent CEO by the end of the year replacing Ford who is moving on to become CEO of Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
Ford worked with then-mayor Lenny Curry and City Council in 2021 to forge a long list of more than $900 million of road, transit and drainage projects financed by the local gas tax. JTA initially sought $379 million to convert the Skyway for autonomous transit shuttles and also extend those shuttle routes into surrounding neighborhoods.
City Council reduced JTA's request by $132 million and put that money instead into construction of the Emerald Trail network, leaving $247 million for the Skway conversion in downtown.
Diamond, who voted against the local gas tax increase, said Ford's impending departure has opened the way to reconsidering the gas tax list. Ford was the driving force behind JTA becoming the first transit agency in the nation to have autonomous transit shuttles as part of its regular fare-paying system.
"I don't get any pleasure in saying this, but with Nat Ford leaving, there isn't a face to this anymore that people are afraid to criticize," Diamond said. "People like Nat. They didn't want to criticize him. They'd hope he was right about all this. Now that's he's leaving, they can see the facts for themselves without all the politics in the way."
Full article: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2026/08/24/jacksonville-might-reopen-agreement-with-money-for-downtown-skyway/91407080007/
^ First time I ever agreed with Rory Diamond on something important ;D . His call out of the reluctance to criticize Nat Ford is spot on. I hope the Mayor's office takes the hint and comes around too. This project is radioactive for anyone left supporting it. A no-brainer to drop it like a hot potato.
Imagine what $247 million could do for the Emerald Trail and so many more deserving infrastructure projects. We can't afford to blow those dollars on a boondoggle, certain-to-fail project like NAVI-Skyway that serves so few vs. endless numbers of projects that can serve so many. Heck, a drop-in-the bucket sidewalk project on a busy street in a part of town without them would serve more people than the NAVI and the Skyway, combined.