During the Autonomous Innovation Center’s ribbon-cutting ceremony last spring, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s City Council liaison Rahman Johnson said, “Readiness is not the prerequisite for greatness. Belief is.”
Well, apparently JTA didn’t believe hard enough.
In a move we can only file under the I s### you not category – JTA is asking us what we think they should do with the Skyway.
We have five options:
- Rehab current Skyway vehicles.
- Replace current fleet with newer fleet.
- Continue with the current U2C plan of replacing current driverless vehicles with other driverless vehicles using same elevated Skyway system with an upgraded track.
- Demolish the elevated Skyway track and use AVs on the same surface level pathways.
- Operate AVs under the Skyway and transform the track into an elevated pedestrian path with fancy landscaping – and hopefully guardrails (Google the Vessel – NYC’s $150 million art installation if you need a cautionary tale), while operating AVs on surface streets.
After years of absolute certainty, it is now up to a multiple-choice question.
JTA posted an online survey and is hosting town halls so the community can weigh in. Board members will take that feedback, develop a proposal by May, and then – naturally- begin another round of studies, planning sessions, and design work.
More time, more money.
By June, we’re told, there will be a “final plan” to fix the current plan that took more than a decade to develop.
And then?
More planning. More design. More studies.
More time, more money.
As for the cost, JTA doesn’t really know yet. But that’s not much of a concern when you’ve got a local option gas tax extension providing plenty of financial cushion. Plus, when city auditors recently flagged almost $19 million in questionable spending, it barely registered. There’s no reason to think this reset will trigger fiscal restraint or a public outcry.
As JTA spins it, this isn’t backtracking – it’s the process.
The website frames the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study as a fiscally responsible way to “evaluate options for rehabilitating and modernizing the Skyway as part of the U2C program.”
And this time, we’re assured – “public engagement is a critical part of this process.”
Which is an exciting turn-around, considering nothing other than accomplishing JTA chief Nat Ford’s dream of delivering a fully autonomous public transit system – that isn’t fully autonomous – is all that mattered to JTA’s top brass and the mayor’s office.
Public skepticism was brushed aside for years while autonomous vehicles as the inevitable “future of mobility” messaging was repeated relentlessly.
Slick videos, polished presentations, and a steady stream of paid experts assuring us the technology works – because the people building it said so.
A perfect loop of confidence suddenly pivots to crowdsourcing.
Even Mayor Donna Deegan has shown little appetite for defecting. Which is understandable given the political and financial weight already tied up in the project.
Plus, there is no lerping way any of these people are going to acknowledge JTA’s AV “milestone” accomplishment celebrated by leadership and politicians, might not have been much of a milestone at all.
Meanwhile, during a recent town hall at the Main Library, a spokesperson told attendees, JTA wants to know “what you like, what you don’t like, what’s your No. 1 choice.”
After all this time, they are finally listening. Just in time to start over.
Florida Times-Union columnist Mark Woods offered his two cents. He chose the first half of No. 5. – transitioning the Skyway into a mix-use elevated pedestrian trail.
Elevated botanical bike pathways in the sky?! Yes, please.
Woods notes how the public has responded to the portion of the Emerald Trail next to the Fuller Warren Bridge and what other cities have done with “unused and underutilized elevated rail lines.”
I cannot disagree with Woods.
Now, it’s my turn.
I choose write-in candidate No. 6 – None of the above.
The future of mobility JTA promised hasn’t arrived yet. It might, one day, but not today.
Meanwhile, as JTA quietly waves a white flag, I’ll keep waving a red one.
