by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Workspace: JTA Skyway Operations Center
The JTA Skyway, sometimes referred to as the “automated people mover,” has been traveling on elevated tracks through Downtown since 1989 when the first of the project opened between Central Station on Bay Street near Julia Street and the Osborn Center. In 1994 construction began on the remainder of the 2.5-mile system that today links the Northbank and Southbank via the Acosta Bridge.
The Skyway Operation Center on Leila Street off Riverside Avenue is where everything that has to happen to keep the trains moving is headquartered. It’s where operators control the trains with a complex computer system and where the trains are maintained and repaired.
“We do a lot more scheduled maintenance than we do repairs,” said Skyway Operations Manager Kenneth Williams.
The former U.S. Navy aviation electrician went to work in the maintenance shop at the operations center when he was discharged for the service, then went to Florida Community College at Jacksonville and Jacksonville University where he earned his degree in computer information management. After working his way up through the ranks, Williams became the center’s manager in 2006.
Two operators are always on duty in the control center. One controls the speed and route of the trains while the other monitors the power system and interfaces with riders via a video camera and intercom system in place on all station platforms and aboard every train. Including the management staff, train operators and maintenance technicians, it takes about 30 people to keep the Skyway rolling, said Williams.
The Skyway trains carry about 1,500 passengers each day and log more than 260,00 miles each year on the combined routes. Williams said his most memorable week since he went to work at the operations center was during Super Bowl XXIX, “When 105,000 people rode the Skyway in four days.”
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