How friendly is the new Landing plan to walkability?

[JHAT76]

1st Place Sports is sending out this campaign to keep Main St open for walking / running:

http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=e1a92f6eea56ce3db0a522ca9&id=ab4a70ccad.

Attention Runners and Walkers!

The City of Jacksonville is considering closing the ramp from
Independent Drive to the Main Street Bridge. We know this will greatly
affect the Main Street and Acosta Bridge loop. The FDOT and
our City Council needs to hear from you!

A public meeting has been scheduled for this Thursday, September 25th to consider a proposal by FDOT, at the request of the City of Jacksonville, to remove the on-ramp that connects Independent Drive to the Main Street Bridge, in the vicinity of The Jacksonville Landing. The meeting will be at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, beginning at 4:30 PM.

If you are unable to attend this meeting, but would like to share any
concerns you may have, below is a list of contacts.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CONTACTS
jennifer.graham@dot.state.fl.us
derek.dixon@dot.state.fl.us
dewayne.carver@dot.state.fl.us
greg.evans@dot.state.fl.us
jerry.ausher@dot.state.fl.us
rodney.cooper@dot.state.fl.us

CITY COUNCIL CONTACTS
gulliford@coj.net
wbishop@coj.net
rclark@coj.net
gaffney@coj.net
edlee@coj.net
wajones@coj.net
rbrown@coj.net
holt@coj.net
doylec@coj.net
kimdaniels@coj.net
jrc@coj.net
joost@coj.net
ganderson@coj.net
rlumb@coj.net
redman@coj.net
matts@coj.net
clay@coj.net
jimlove@coj.net

[Tacachale]

My wife got that too. There's a real concern that removing the onramp will reduce walkability, at least temporarily, since pedestrians will have to go up to Bay Street or take the other side. On the other hand, the ramp creates half a block of dead space, primarily to make it slightly easier for cars to leave downtown, which is bad for walkability.

Previous Landing designs have included a way for pedestrians to get off and on there even with the car ramp replaced by infill. Perhaps that can can be prioritized when the ramp comes down. There's a great opportunity here to limit the short term negative impact on pedestrians while moving forward with a project that will improve walkability in the long run.