SkyWay should extend to the sports district

[JeffreyS]

Let's not get San Marco confused with riverside just keep it east of hendricks to Jackson square it will fly.

[Ocklawaha]

San Marco is the first area I would expand the skyway they are building two TODs one that would include a future commuter rail stop and one that will be a mixed use center including a Publix.  Jumping the train will be problematic for streetcar and easy for the skyway.

Dont forget about the San Marco floods....id like to see street car get through that lol. Keep the train in the sky. Its Florida People!

No sweat my friend, since it doesn't rain salt water and most of the motor and electrical components are at least as high as the hood of an automobile, you just train your Trolleys to gently lift their skirts and tip-toe across.

The St. Johns is a great river, but it's no OHIO, consider the decades of floods along the Ohio, Tennessee and Monongahela... Yet streetcars may well have reached their zenith in the States of Ohio and Indiana. Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chattanooga, and a dozen or more towns along those waterways maintained a tradition of streetcar service.

So roll back the clock to 1945, it just quit raining east of town, and the spring melt is in full force... The Ohio is raging and you MUST go to work. Grab your waders and head down stairs and try and find the sidewalk, because in Louisville, on this date, or in SAN MARCO on a later date, your car approaches.



OCKLAWAHA

[BigGuy219]

Living downtown I would definately use it and attend a lot more Suns games if it were there. However, despite my inflated view of myself, I doubt the city would build an extension for just me. Although, I can still hope. Ironically, during football season I used it to connect to the shuttle bus at Prime Osborne. Unfortunately, the SkyWay wasn't running after the Thursday night Colts game and I had to walk from Prime Osborne to Hemmings. 

[Coolyfett]

Let's not get San Marco confused with riverside just keep it east of hendricks to Jackson square it will fly.

Whats that suppose to mean Jeff?

[JeffreyS]

RAP is very strong and strict in Riverside. San Marco while well preserved is much more flexible.

I was referencing this comment.

San Marco is the first area I would expand the skyway they are building two TODs one that would include a future commuter rail stop and one that will be a mixed use center including a Publix.  Jumping the train will be problematic for streetcar and easy for the skyway.

Dont forget about the San Marco floods....id like to see street car get through that lol. Keep the train in the sky. Its Florida People!

You could never have a skyway west of Kings Ave.  The historic preservationists would be up in arms.  The only way skyway would work in San Marco is if it was integrated with a streetcar.  You'd need a Commuter Rail/Skyway/ Streetcar hub at Atlantic & skyway to streetcar transfers at Kings Ave and Prudential.  Streetcar would run down hendricks and San Marco blvd, cross at Naldo and Landon and run through the square, and have a spur running south down hendricks towards miramar.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Where are the skyway haters? They haven't chimed in yet?

[JeffreyS]

I think they wanted to give us a few pages to dream.

[Keith-N-Jax]

AHHH u guys made it to two pages with out any hate on the skyway, that's a record.

[Timkin]

I dont hate the skyway, but I was accused in another thread of placing a historic tag on it, because I do like historic buildings???  Does the Skyway rails constitute a historic building?? .  LOL.  I do not see what one has to do with the other. And since the Skyway is in place now, we should enhance it, not destroy it.  Agree that San Marco and Riverside/Brooklyn are two good places to extend it. The stadium certainly makes sense as well.

[stjr]

I think they wanted to give us a few pages to dream.

Yep, dream away.  No harm in that.  They're just dreams after all. 

Actually, this thread should be titled "Skyway should extend to "fill in the blank".  Let's see how long before someone says to extend it to California.  Why consider anything else?

[Timkin]

LOL. California... Does I-10 go that far ?  I do not know because I never drove or went to California.   BUT IF IT DOES........


And with all due respect to the postings and to you , stjr,  there is nothing wrong with dreaming.  Some dreams do come true.   Will the Skyway be extended anywhere?  Guess time will tell.

[Ocklawaha]

They (the Skyway haters)  might actually help the city progress by just going away with their constant negative attacks and circular arguments:

"The Skyway doesn't go anywhere so nobody rides - Don't fix it though because nobody rides because it doesn't go anywhere..."

I'd love to see them play this game, as if they were employed by the city to MAKE IT WORK within a realistic budget and time-frame. Might be cool to see if they have a creative out-of-the-box ability.

Frankly the Skyway to the Sports District (actually called "FAIRFIELD") in my estimation would start to launch the real park and ride and multi-modal concepts in much of Jacksonville.

If this old railroad guy ever gets a crack at it I would:

Dismantle the Bay street flyover segments of the Hart Bridge approaches and bring that down to ground level with a true wide median PARKWAY east of Berkman and A.P. Randolph.

The Skyway would be extended first to the Laura and then to Newnan, finally I would push for The Shipyards area.

The Skyway on East Bay would use the bents from the previous freeway flyover bridge to support it from just east of Maxwell House to Metropolitan Park/Stadium Station.

Stadium Station would be much like an earlier concept at Randolph and the Arlington Expressway, it would include a large parking structure. The platform area's (3Rd Floor) for the Skyway would include two stub tracks with open right-of-way toward the NE / Arlington Expressway / Matthews Bridge. With a station platforms, parking garage and gates stretched longitudinal from the Southeast End Zone area to Bay Street at Metropolitan Park at the 2nd Floor, one lower then track level, it could serve as an elevated corridor from the parks/Bay to the stadium. This 2nd floor corridor would be wide enough to serve as a "sports - parks - outdoor recreation MALL". (hell it could even have hot dog carts!).

Track needs a complete realignment (I didn't say reconstruction) to reset travel directions, through services, longer trains, and end to end operation of each subdivision.  Imagine one single track (beamway) running from the Stadium to Atlantic at the FEC in San Marco.  One longer 6 car train could shunt back and forth all day long. If traffic warrants it (and it would on every event or game day) a second track would allow directional travel with trains running to the stadium, station stop, then pulling through and into a cross-over switch to the opposing line, the same procedure would take place at Atlantic Station. Once clear of the switch, the train just reverses directions on the second track. This method would allow any number of trains to work the same back and forth shuttle.

A second double track route would run from Jacksonville Terminal to Rosa Parks, with ASAP extensions to the INSIDE of the new VA Clinic on Jefferson at about 7Th, Shand's and a multi-modal Commuter Rail/BRT/Skyway/Bus mini-hub at about 13Th Street TRANSIT-WAY and Boulevard.

FEC RY at Atlantic, Stadiums, Jax Terminal, 13Th Street, With these 4 endpoints in place it would greatly enlarge capacity to reconstruct the Central Station with TWO PLATFORMS and 4 tracks. This would allow close headways to run throughout the day with bi-directional running on each subdivision.

Riverside/Brooklyn would stay on ice until a partnership deal could be worked out to get dirt moving in the redevelopment area of Brooklyn Park.  We would work to make the Skyway friendlier with destination type stations (ie: activity, dining, retail or vendor centers).  As soon as possible, the Skyway would attempt to open this line. Phase one would include the station features outlined above, plus the Riverside and Forest Street Station would be a recycled Firehouse. Phase II would be an extension from the Firehouse Station next to BCBS, down MAY STREET to ROSSELLE STREET, west over ROSSELLE to just west of CHELSEA where the line would turn south for 1/2 block and enter the rear of the ANNIE LYTLE SCHOOL.

The back of the school would be Would lay out as SCHOOL-SKYWAY-AUDITORIUM-SKYWAY-SCHOOL. Bus lanes would run cross wise, east to west behind the school station and under the Skyway platforms. A future westside LRT or STREETCAR line would have ample room for platforms on the East side of College Street, next to the old school. Both the firehouse and the Annie Lytle school would be in a league of their own, TOD-TRANSIT-STATION-THEATER-ARTS-FOOD-RETAIL+RARE HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REUSE. Something that would make the stations, the Skyway, JTA and the CITY a must visit on every transit executives map world wide.

All new Skyway equipment would be ordered as walk-through trains, where passengers would have the option to move from car to car while en route. New trains would also be designed to handle bicycles, easy handicap access, wheelchair straps and additional seats.

The Riverside line would be designed to flow into the Jacksonville Terminal-13Th Street Station line, no trains would turn at Central Station.

Atnea-Baptist-Wolfson-Nemours-Medical Arts Building Skyway link, would be done either as a seamless flow in spur from the Atlantic/FEC RY station, to San Marco Station and hence on the short spur to reach 9,000 est workers daily. A second option might be the Jacksonville Concourse, an elevated over the highways enclosed, climate controlled, scenic paseo system.

EVERY SKYWAY STATION, PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE would undergo a complete audit (fun for Ennis, Stephendare and Bob) in order to CONNECT THEM to their surroundings, adding walks, canopies, hot dog carts or naked dancing girls! (Okay maybe not the girls... DAMN!)[/b]

OKAY BOYS AND GIRLS, GRAB THOSE KEYBOARDS AND ENHANCE MY VISION! TALK TO ME!

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

I'd love to see them play this game, as if they were employed by the city to MAKE IT WORK within a realistic budget and time-frame. Might be cool to see if they have a creative out-of-the-box ability.

Ock, key here is a "realistic budget".  As I have tried to point out repeatedly to deaf ears by some, what is realistic is spending a limited budget on the most bang for the buck.  That leads one to alternate options to the Skyway.  Why try to fix or expand the Skyway when we can spend the money on something else that does the same job (serving more passengers) far better for less money?  Those City (and JTA) employees already realize this and that's why they aren't promoting your solution - at least not based on their public statements.

[Ocklawaha]

I dont hate the skyway, but I was accused in another thread of placing a historic tag on it, because I do like historic buildings???  Does the Skyway rails constitute a historic building?? .  LOL.  I do not see what one has to do with the other. And since the Skyway is in place now, we should enhance it, not destroy it.  Agree that San Marco and Riverside/Brooklyn are two good places to extend it. The stadium certainly makes sense as well.

Yes, if you don't get lost on the I-10/I-5 interchange near downtown Los Angeles, it will take you all the way to Santa Monica beyond the I-405, within a block of the famous pier where it hooks north for a couple of blocks to merge into the PCH or PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY at the corner of PCH and Wilshire Blvd.

Sadly, the signs are long gone and downright forgotten by most, but when the "I" Highways were new, there once was a pact with Santa Monica and Jacksonville, each city had a sign in the others town on I-10. As I recall ours read BEGAIN INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 10, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, "The Gateway City"  XXXX MILES. Santa Monica had a similar one on I-10 around McDuff? Just far enough out where it wouldn't be missed as it might have been between the Roosevelt Connector and I-95, it also had a cutsie slogan.


OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

I'd love to see them play this game, as if they were employed by the city to MAKE IT WORK within a realistic budget and time-frame. Might be cool to see if they have a creative out-of-the-box ability.

Ock, key here is a "realistic budget".  As I have tried to point out repeatedly to deaf ears by some, what is realistic is spending a limited budget on the most bang for the buck.  That leads one to alternate options to the Skyway.  Why try to fix or expand the Skyway when we can spend the money on something else that does the same job far better for less money?  Those City (and JTA) employees already realize this and that's why they aren't promoting your solution - at least not based on their public statements.

Not really, while I have several insiders who insist they can extend it for 12-15 million a mile, I'll stick with the $20-25 figure until they can prove to me they have that ability.

Meanwhile, to play this threads game, sweep out those cobwebs, use maybe another $200 Million and tell us what we'd get for that... You are now the president of the SKYWAY RAILROAD... Make it sing.

"Once I built a railroad, made it run, made it run on time,
Once I built a railroad, made it run, buddy can  you spare a dime!"
Depression era song

OCKLAWAHA