Ultimate Urban Circulator Program, BayJax Innovation Corridor, Jacksonville, Florida

Ultimate Urban Circulator Program, BayJax Innovation Corridor, Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville Transportation Authority, City of Jacksonville, JAX Chamber, North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, and JEA

Joint Development, Business Improvement District, & City Gas Tax

Smart City: Smart Technology Corridor

The BayJax Innovation Corridor is a project in Jacksonville, Florida, that will connect people, places, and information. The North Florida Smart Region Coalition partners are working together to bring this idea to life. The project is a three-mile business, residential, and entertainment segment of Bay Street in downtown Jacksonville, Florida.

The corridor is part of Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) plan to replace and expand the Skyway’s monorail cars with autonomous electric vehicles. The overall project is collectively being called the Ultimate Urban Circulator, or U2C. The existing monorail cars will eventually be retired. The Corridor will include a variety of projects, such as an integrated data exchange, autonomous shuttles, smart and connected signals, pedestrian sensors, street flood notification systems, smart lighting, wayfinding and event management, a solar path, a conversion to a two-way road, public broadband network, public safety and surveillance, and smart waste management.

The existing Skyway will be converted and smart technologies such as dynamic signals, connected intersections, integrated data exchange, pedestrian sensors, flood warning sensors and power consumption reduction will be installed. The Ultimate Urban Circulate (U2C) is a multi-phased program aimed at converting and extending the automated Skyway into an autonomous vehicle (AV) network. The three-phase U2C includes the Bay Street Innovation Corridor, the full conversion of the Skyway superstructure, and the expansion into nearby neighborhoods. The first phase of the U2C program is the Bay Street Innovation Corridor (BSIC). This route is the East Corridor and extends beginning at the current terminal of the Skyway's Central Station, east to the Sports/Entertainment District/TIAA Bank Field. In August 2021, the JTA selected Balfour Beatty Vision 2 Reality (V2R) team to deliver the Bay Street Innovation Corridor project.

Phase II of the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) represents the full conversion of the existing Skyway Superstructure and eight stations into an elevated roadway for autonomous vehicles. Launching from the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center at LaVilla (JRTC), the U2C elevated sections will stretch to four additional stations on the Downtown Northbank, and across the St. Johns River over the Acosta Bridge to three stations on the Downtown Southbank. Phase II also includes the street level connection to Phase I, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor. While Phases I and II are currently active, Phase III is yet to start and is expected to involve neighborhood extensions, including Southwest Corridor, Southbank Corridor, and North Corridor. When completed, the system will expand the current Skyway from a 2.5-mile system to the 10-mile U2C, leveraging the latest autonomous vehicle technologies.

The site will also serve as a testbed for selected North Florida Smart Region strategies and technologies. Two test and learn track sites: Armsdale Test & Learn Facility and FSCJ Cecil Center Campus will serve as a vital component to the development of the U2C program and creating an autonomous transportation network.

U2C plan: $379 million to $400 million to replace the elevated monorail with a 10-mile automated vehicle network

Phase I: $49.04 million

Phase II: TBD

Phase III: TBD

$240 million purchase autonomous vehicles (local gas tax from 6 cents to 12 cents a gallon)

Phase I

• $12.5 million – BUILD Grant awarded to the JTA in 2019
• $31.5 million – Local, in-kind, State, and Federal funds

Phase II

• $247 million

A significant portion of the funding will also come from the 6-cent gas tax that the Jacksonville City Council approved in May. The tax, which will double the current rate, goes into effect next year and is expected to raise about $1 billion for a variety of city infrastructure projects. The U2C is expected to receive about $247 million from the gas tax.

Phase III

• $1.72 million RAISE Grant in support of the U2C’s third phase (neighborhood extensions). The JTA is required to provide a 50 percent match to DOT funds.

Phase I: Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM)

• Balfour Beatty
• Superior Construction Company Southeast
• Beep, Inc.
• WGI, Inc.
• Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.
• Miller Electric 

• Jax Chamber
• City of Jacksonville, Florida
• North Florida TPO
• Jacksonville Transportation Authority
• Downtown Investment Authority Jacksonville, Florida
• JEA
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office

N/A

2018 - Present

Phase I: Fully Funded

Phase II: Fully Funded

Phase III: TBD

• Transform the current Skyway and extend the reach within the urban core through the Bay Street Innovation Corridor and beyond into adjacent neighborhoods, the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) supports the vision of a vibrant, revitalized and better-connected Downtown Jacksonville.
• Inter-connect micro-mobility and transit options to individual desired destinations within Jacksonville improves our health, economy and environment.
• The P3 project will use local, in-king, State, and Federal funds, including a BUILD grant to develop a smart city corridor including data exchange, autonomous shuttles, smart and connected signals, among other new technologies to the area. The project has been procured as an AV-DBOM, i.e., the design, construction, autonomous vehicle supply, core systems supply and integration, and post-construction operations and maintenance of the autonomous vehicles and such core systems (but not, for certainty, of Bay Street as a public road), will be delivered through a single Contract.
• Through private and public collaboration, the Bay Street Innovation Corridor will transform downtown mobility, enhancing safety, efficiency and accessibility along a vital corridor in Downtown Jacksonville.

• The BayJax Innovation Corridor
• Downtown Jacksonville – Bay Street Innovation Corridor & the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C)
• BUILD Grant Program – Bay Street Autonomous Vehicle Corridor
• JTA Awarded $1.72 Million RAISE Grant for U2C
• Jacksonville Transportation Authority - JTA Selects Balfour Beatty V2R Team for Bay Street Innovation Corridor (jtafla.com)
• JTA's Ultimate Urban Circulator (jtafla.com)
• JTA Selects Designer for Bay Street Corridor As Part Of U2C Skyway Replacement | WJCT News
• Request for Qualifications for Ultimate Urban Circulator Program Phase I: Bay Street Innovation Corridor
• Bay Street Innovation Corridor & the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) – DIA (investdtjax.com)
• JTA signs $49 million contract with Balfour Beatty for Skyway replacement

Nathaniel P. Ford Sr.
Chief Executive Officer, Jacksonville Transportation Authority
(904) 632- 3181
https://u2c.jtafla.com/