Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center now open

[thelakelander]

Now open, the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center (JRTC) at LaVilla officially replaces the Rosa Parks Transit Station as the main downtown bus transfer facility, serving most Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) regular and express bus routes, the Skyway and the First Coast Flyer Bus Rapid Transit network.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/jacksonville-regional-transportation-center-now-open/

[Charles Hunter]

Going through downtown this weekend, I noticed that the long block of Forsyth Street, between Lee and Jefferson has been repaved and new stripes put down to extend the Bus Lane for the entire distance.  Previously, the Bus Lane started around Madison, just before the bus stop.

The JRTC is quite an upgrade from JTA's previous offices.

[marcuscnelson]

What a ride. I remember when we were right here four years ago comparing the Pond, KBJ, and VIA proposals.

It's definitely changed from what we were originally sold, but I guess it's not that bad. The grey is a good look.

Hopefully with this done, we can look forward to the next big things: Getting the Skyway back on track and working out what to do with the Terminal.

[thelakelander]

Going through downtown this weekend, I noticed that the long block of Forsyth Street, between Lee and Jefferson has been repaved and new stripes put down to extend the Bus Lane for the entire distance.  Previously, the Bus Lane started around Madison, just before the bus stop.

I noticed that as well. Now the sidewalk in front of the older buildings on Forsyth Street are much more narrow. I wish we had a bit more coordination with various projects in downtown and LaVilla. What could be a three block stretch of W Forsyth with adaptive reuse of commercial/dining, etc. for LaVilla's growing population, is now a bit more limited from a sidewalk integration perspective.

The JRTC is quite an upgrade from JTA's previous offices.

It looks good. What goes around it will either make or break the potential vibrancy of that area. Hopefully, they'll address the Amtrak situation sooner rather than later.

[marcuscnelson]

I looked around and found the proposal document from Pond on JTA's website. Just thought it was interesting to see where we came from.

https://www.jtafla.com/media/Documents/JRTC%20designs/pond-conceptual-design-jrtc/1001/pond-conceptual-design-jrtc.pdf

[Captain Zissou]

While it still looks cool and i'm excited for what that area can become, they really value engineered the original design.  Small changes could have made the result much better.

[Tacachale]

Even value engineered it looks good for Jax, and clearly very functional. The streetscaping of Forsyth is a bad sign as far as our lack of coordination goes, but this is a great opportunity to spur real growth and vibrancy in the surrounding blocks.

[jaxjaguar]

Definitely better than an empty lot and as someone else said an improvement over the old offices.

Now let's get that budget extension to Brooklyn, extend to the sports district and further into San Marco. It'd also be nice to see a Shands extension.

While we're at it, move the Amtrak station back into the area.

By the time all of that is done driverless tech should be good enough to support legs to the cruise port, airport, town center and beaches... Then boom we've got a pretty well connected City worth visiting / living in haha

[Ken_FSU]

However, the Skyway will remain closed until further notice, in coordination with the local "Safer at Home" executive order to promote social distancing.

Quick note that, at least in the Northbank, the Skyway has been running for at least the last couple of weeks.

No clue why, or if passengers can even get on it, but I just saw it speeding down Hogan a few times again today.

[jaxlongtimer]

Interesting building and will be a landmark in the area.  I think it would have been nice to have also put the patterned glass on the side of the building facing I-95 rather than the shinny cold surface there now.  Would have been a nice eye-catcher for Downtown and LaVilla.

And, not being a fan of the Skyway, making it the centerpiece of their HQ's tells me JTA will be wedded to it more than ever (if that's possible!) now.  Over time, it will be interesting to see if it "dates" the building.  Uuuggh!

[I-10east]

The curved structure kinda remind me of a mini Toronto City Hall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_City_Hall#/media/File:City_Hall,_Toronto,_Ontario.jpg

[marcuscnelson]

Interesting building and will be a landmark in the area.  I think it would have been nice to have also put the patterned glass on the side of the building facing I-95 rather than the shinny cold surface there now.  Would have been a nice eye-catcher for Downtown and LaVilla.

A victim of the value-engineering, I'm afraid. The original proposal at least tried with a metal frame over the part facing I-95 and full glass on the part facing north.

And, not being a fan of the Skyway, making it the centerpiece of their HQ's tells me JTA will be wedded to it more than ever (if that's possible!) now.  Over time, it will be interesting to see if it "dates" the building.  Uuuggh!

2/3 of the proposals for the JRTC integrated the Skyway station into the building itself, and the only one that didn't placed the building an extra block away from the terminal and included a pedestrian bridge through the station anyway. Surprise, a transit agency made a mode of transit part of their transit center.