A group of Jacksonville Transportation Authority leaders deciding what to do with the Jacksonville Skyway has found a cheaper way to fix the people mover.
All ideas were on the table when the group met last year, including dismantling the project, but board members decided the skyway should remain in operation.
The latest breakthrough was a cost savings maintenance plan helped by Jacksonville-based Westside Electric.
With the cost now 1/3 what it would have been to refurbish each motor, it's much more feasible for JTA to go with its plan from last year: to overhaul the Skyway vehicles, extend it to other areas of the city — most likely at street level — and get another thirty years of useful life out of it.
James Cannon is the managing editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal. He can be reached at jcannon@bizjournals.com