JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Transportation Authority board has approved a multimillion-dollar contract to hire an outside firm to take a deep dive into its plans to convert the Skyway into a track for autonomous shuttles.
Those plans are part of Phase II of JTA’s proposed Ultimate Urban Circulator, or U2C.
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The contract totals $6.7 million to hire an outside firm to assess potential impacts on the environment and historic buildings, gather input from the public, and even consider whether the skyway conversion should happen at all.
Council Liaison to JTA Rahman Johnson (D-District 14) noted the feasibility study is required to ensure the city doesn’t have to pay back the roughly $100 million still owed to the federal government for the existing Skyway.
“The reality is the Skyway is here now and we’ve gotta find something to do with it or we have to pay these funds back,” Johnson said.
But Councilmember Rory Diamond (R-District 13) didn’t mince words about the latest development.
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“If you need to spend six million dollars to decide whether or not to do something here in Jacksonville, the answer is, you shouldn’t do it,” Diamond said.
Action News Jax has reported extensively on the safety, financial, and logistical concerns surrounding the Skyway conversion proposal.
The project, which still doesn’t have a timeline or final price tag, will get at least $240 million from the city’s local option gas tax.
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That means it will cost the city far more than it stands to save, by not having to pay off the existing Skyway.
“The technology is not proven, we don’t have a budget, we don’t even know when it’s going to show up. We just gotta stop. We gotta quit now,” Diamond said.
But Johnson argued the Skyway project will pay dividends in the long run.
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“If we can use that in some way, shape, or form to help mobility around the city, I think we have a responsibility to do that,” Johnson said.
According to JTA, the study must include an alternative analysis to meet regulatory requirements, and it also includes 30 percent design plans.
“The design plans will transform the elevated platform into a Connected Automated Vehicle corridor further building on the Bay Street Innovation Corridor on schedule to open June 2025,” said a JTA spokesperson in an emailed statement.
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