Metromover Is Moving Forward With A $153M Overhaul, County Says

[thelakelander]

Miami-Dade to overhaul Metromover system



Taking a completely different and cheaper approach than Jacksonville's position on the JTA Skyway and U2C, Miami-Dade County is preparing to invest $153 million to keep and overhaul the Metromover people mover system.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/miami-dade-to-overhaul-metromover-system/

Full article: https://www.thenextmiami.com/metromover-is-moving-forward-with-a-153m-overhaul-county-says/

Full article: https://www.miamidade.gov/global/news-item.page?Mduid_news=news1631628513942563

[BossmanOdum10]

Wow....and JTA is trying to prove the automatic clown cars are the future. JTA should follow Miami-Dade's footsteps and fix and expand the system that is already in place. There are ways to improve the skyway...well Miami figured it out.

[jaxjaguar]

Why are we paying $500 million to fool around with the Skyway retrofit again?

Complete lack of care, accountability and drive. I'm 100% convinced that a leadership position in Jax government has to be one of the easiest jobs on the planet. You literally get paid to destroy the city however you see fit, without question. Aside from committing fraud you're pretty much in the clear to do whatever and you know that paychecks coming every week no matter how bad of decisions you make. 

Want to sell out to private industry and line your pockets with cash? Go for it! 

Want to blow $h!* up? Plenty of abandoned buildings standing downtown. 

Want to tour the country and site see some nicer cities than crummy Jacksonville? Pack your bags this vacations not gonna cost you a penny! 

I bet you'd love to tie your name to a big fancy project with some SWEET renderings! Hey now we don't have the funds for that, but who are we kidding no one will notice we budgetized the design...stucco is HOT!

[thelakelander]

It would be interesting to see what the cost would be to do a similar overhaul for the Skyway that's complemented by on-street BRT, LRT, streetcar or AV lines that could extend into adjacent neighborhoods.

[Captain Zissou]

There have been many COJ boondoggles in the past few years, but this is definitely the largest.  No citizens want it, it's fiscally irresponsible, it will decrease the likelihood of TOD in the future, and it will take funding away from dozens of better projects.  It was a big step for city council to cut funding in half, but I think they need to outright pull support for this project.  It will be just like what they do to developers all the time when they renege on RFPs.  Revamp the existing system and spend the remainder on the many things our funding starved city has neglected.

[CityLife]

An important consideration for the future of the Skyway is something I'm not sure I've seen mentioned. If it has, forgive me, I haven't been able to read many of the Skyway/U2C threads.

We are already seeing the Southbank fill in quite a bit, but it is not even remotely close to being built out. I think you can and should expect substantial growth there over the next 10-20 years. There's obviously the Healthy Town (or whatever it's called) parcel, the massive surface lot next to Wine Cellar, a surface lot right next to Riverplace Station,  a huge surface lot next to the Doubletree, vacant lot next to Chart House, huge surface lot next to Kings Avenue Station, a huge school district parcel and parking lot. All of these parcels are within 2 blocks or so of the Riverplace and King's Avenue Stations.  Yes, some of the parking lots provide parking to adjacent uses, but when the market economics reach a tipping point, there a lot of ways to solve that issue.

The Southbank will never be Brickell, but it can and plausibly will add a substantial amount of new residential units in the coming future. You pair that with everything going on on the Northbank and Brooklyn, and the future ridership potential is vastly different than present day. One of the primary issues with the Skyway isn't the technology itself, but the lack of residential density, office workers, and attractions. That may be changing for reasons completely unrelated to the Skyway/U2C.

If (or when) the U2C fails, I think people are going to look back and wonder why we didn't just improve/expand the Skyway, but that's just how Jacksonville rolls.

[thelakelander]

^Definitely agree about the land use situation. Before JTA or anyone seriously ponders a Skyway expansion, there appears to be ample opportunity to focus on clustering and building density and infill around the eight existing stations in the Southbank, Northbank, Brooklyn and LaVilla. As far as potential extensions go, there's no reason something as simple as a bus with frequent headways can't be utilized between nearby neighborhoods and Skyway stops. Instead of worrying about how to stretch it out to 10 miles, first make it the best and most efficient 2.5 mile system you can.

[bl8jaxnative]

We may want to keep in mind:

a) Downtown JAX has less residents than the city on the circle, lil ol Sebring Florida.

b) If office work changes hold, it may be _generations_ before downtown Jacksonville regularly has more than 10 or 15K workers actually coming downtown to work.

[fieldafm]

We may want to keep in mind:

a) Downtown JAX has less residents than the city on the circle, lil ol Sebring Florida.

b) If office work changes hold, it may be _generations_ before downtown Jacksonville regularly has more than 10 or 15K workers actually coming downtown to work.

So glad your dumb@ss is back.   

Sebring has less than 700 people/sq mile.  The pre-consolidated city limits of Jacksonville has more residents than all of Highlands County. I own property in both Sebring and Lake Placid.  Are you on Valium? 

There are more than 10k people working Downtown right now, even with virtually all of the TIAA Bank building being empty. The daytime population is certainly not what it was before the pandemic, but predicting 'generations' before the 10k-15k threshold gets met is one of the dumbest takes in your long drivel of dumb takes.  Downtown's two largest employers are currently spending hundreds of millions in order to double their workforce.  Your hot takes probably shouldn't be stored in the freezer.

[marcuscnelson]

An update:

In addition to this overhaul (which started work back in June), Miami-Dade has also formally announced an expansion of Metromover to Miami Beach, after the proposed monorail project grew more expensive.

https://www.thenextmiami.com/metromover-from-miami-to-the-beach-is-coming-construction-in-2025/

So by the end of the decade, Miami will feature an expanded and overhauled peoplemover (possibly with new vehicles), expanded commuter rail, possibly work underway on a Metrorail expansion, and several additional BRT routes.

[thelakelander]

Very frustrating to see decisions like this being made.......just not in Jacksonville. I use the Skyway daily when working out of my downtown Jax office. It's held together by duct table and band aids. Really out of date and flat out nasty, in comparison to every other fixed transit system I've used in recent years.

[vicupstate]

Were there any big Mass Transit referendum victories or defeats of note in the elections this week?  Usually there are at least a few.

[marcuscnelson]

^ Both Orange County (Orlando) and Hillsborough County (Tampa) rejected transportation sales taxes on Tuesday. St. Johns County rejected an infrastructure tax that could have (although probably wouldn't have) helped improve some transportation. Alachua County (Gainesville) narrowly approved a sales tax for public improvements that could include matching funds for future federal grants. That's about it.

[thelakelander]

https://sports.yahoo.com/hillsborough-transportation-agency-ponders-uncertain-195300853.html

[thelakelander]

The initiative in 2003, dubbed Mobility 2020, would have helped pay for $8.7 billion in transit improvements over 20 years.

About 54% of county voters said no.

Understanding the challenge, Demings stumped for his proposed increase at hundreds of public gatherings.

During many of those forums, the mayor asked his audience to signify by a show of hands if they believed the county has a traffic problem. Nearly every hand in every crowd shot up. Then he would ask his audience how many of them were willing to pay for it.

Many hands fell.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/2022-election/os-ne-politics-2022-general-election-orange-20221109-isjiy6tnd5exdjnt73jc336yk4-story.html