Skyway on the Move: An exclusive thread on EXPANSION and IMPROVEMENT!

[Dashing Dan]

Let's talk about streetcars someday, but let's not scare people into thinking that they would be an antidote to a street widening project in Riverside. 

This "exclusive" thread is about the skyway.

[Ralph W]

I don't think you can have an expansion and improvement discussion without bringing up ancillary modes of transportation. Even foot traffic.

If  recommendations are made regarding routing and placement of stations for the skyway, then reasons why such conclusions are better than others must take into account how you get to those points and then back again to your original point of departure.

If a decision to site a skyway station adjacent to a potential RR station at Atlantic Blvd. is based on transferring from one to another then one would also have to consider that there will already be a transfer point at the new transportation center accomplishing the same thing, therefore a new RR station would be superfluous.

If it is to provide an embarkation point to ride the skyway to downtown or to the transportation center to catch another ride and to get to that station you have to take a shuttle or bus, then the station is superfluous and an unnecessary expense because the shuttle or bus could go just a little further down the street and around the corner for a few blocks and get to the existing station.

There will be other factors to consider but you can't rule out comparisons and discussions that will have a direst bearing on any expansion or improvement ideas and efforts.

[Dashing Dan]

There's a difference between

#1 - talking about other modes in relation to the skyway, and

#2 - talking about streetcars in relation to possibility of road widening projects in Riverside. 

At least in this thread, let's stick with #1 and avoid #2.

If we set up another thread to talk about #2, then I don't think that fear mongering is going to help any of us to make a case for streetcars in Riverside.

[thelakelander]

Go back and review the entire thread, I personally don't see what the problem is. They are both related and the streetcar only entered the discussion because someone asked if it were possible to convert the skyway to streetcar or LRT. It's still a skyway discussion but you can't realistically talk skyway expansion without knowing why to expand into certain areas and how expanding will improve our entire mass transit system.  If you can't approach mass transit holistically on MJ, where can you?

[thelakelander]

Btw, I also agree with sticking with #1, in regards to the streetcar and it's relationship with the skyway, buses and commuter rail. It's actually in the mobility plan and has a realistic chance of happening this decade. Now we need to figure out how to properly integrate this with the skyway to get better utilization out of the skyway.

[Ocklawaha]

Lake, Doug, About the multi modal station at Atlantic and the Skyway/FEC RY SEE PG 6 POST 77. I want to tweak it to see what the retail/office space would look like on the same pedestrian island as the transit shelters, One could also route buses by making turnouts on Atlantic itself. We're not likely to have 20 min commuter rail service, and if we do it will only be for 2 hours morning and evening, with another run or two tossed in for good measure during the day. Thus it's important in light of the Atlantic changes that the station be able to handle a line up of buses to meet the train whenever it arrives, the Skyway IS the shuttle. I'll rework it and post it, but meanwhile, others? TALK TO ME PEOPLE!

I would not replace Kings Avenue Station as the main multimodal center, but I would hub everything west of Philips Highway in the form of bus service there. Remember the new OVERLAND BRIDGE will make Atlantic, freeway accessible, something that is going to change transit in this city for decades to come.

The purpose of a rail/bus/Skyway interchange is ease of access. It is not redundant. If there is no San Marco/Atlantic stop on the rail system, or Skyway, every building on the south bank will suffer the inconvenience. Certainly one COULD ride the train into Jacksonville Terminal, then ride the Skyway to Central Station, then ride the Skyway south again... The same would be true of bus transfers. It's not just Atlantic either, the rail line from END TO END, should be the transit hub for all modes, be it JTA at Atlantic, or Baymeadows, or Sunshine Bus at Highway 210 or Racetrack Road.

As lake has stated it is impossible to discuss the Skyway without discussing how it will mix and interact with it's connections, because those connections are just route extensions of the Skyway, or RAIL, or Streetcar. As the connections go,  so goes the Skyway.  First thing one hears on the plane or train in busier stations is an announcement that your connection with xxx will be at xxx gate for xxx... etc... As we build the system we need to have these discussions under our belt.

Lastly this IS an exclusive thread on Skyway growth, and I don't plan to exclude the connections from their part in the Skyway discussion. The ones who will not be welcomed on this thread are the usual anti-everything the Skyway is a waste bunch. God knows we have had that discussion come up on every single thread that could have, would have, or should have been productive of ideas. As I said, yes, its make-believe, but the ideas tossed out in these discussions go from your screen directly into the very heart of the city, JTA, FDOT, etc.


OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

Ock....  IF the Annie Station became a reality , would you envision Streetcar running near it ?  Some ideas for Tenants?

I would like to see the Skyway come to completion for any destination where it would connect retail and ridership.  Since it exists, to me it would seem to be money wasted to now , completely undo it.
As I get older, I tend to like driving much less.   If Transit develops the way I think it can and should , Id happily park the car and ride.  Especially Skyway/ Streetcar/Rail

[Jdog]

W/regards to option #1: Are the Skyway cars shaped in a way to support advertising placed on the roof? 

[Ralph W]

W/regards to option #1: Are the Skyway cars shaped in a way to support advertising placed on the roof? 

You mean like those little triangular signs on the top of taxies and pizza delivery cars?

[Debbie Thompson]

They could be painted like the city buses already are.

[Jdog]

W/regards to option #1: Are the Skyway cars shaped in a way to support advertising placed on the roof? 

You mean like those little triangular signs on the top of taxies and pizza delivery cars?

Hi Ralph,

I was actually thinking ads painted flat on the roof so as to be visible to those in the high-rises (I guess there are some against wrap-advertising that you can see from the ground). 

[Ralph W]

Eddie Farah, John Morgan and Bill Harrell gazing piously upward. I'd never look out the window again.

[thelakelander]

Why not just wrap the entire car?


Wrap advertising on the Detroit Peoplemover.

[Jdog]

I'm all for that.  Still surprised it hasn't happened yet.   

[iMarvin]

I like the idea. Those cars look good.