J Magazine Winter 2017

DANIS
PORTLAND, ORE.
SPOKANE, WASH.
NEW YORK CITY
roads there now. The gondola system was
built for mass transit. Without it, the medical
center probably would have had to
move.
The trams travel 3,300 feet at 22 miles an
hour, rising 500 feet. The entire trip takes
just four minutes.
The aerial tram allows the forested area to
remain pristine while it still moves Portland
residents to and from the medical center
In New York City, the Roosevelt Island
Tramway extends 3,100 feet, moving at
about 18 miles an hour. The trip takes about
three minutes.
Roosevelt Island was developed for affordable
housing in the 1970s. There was
no subway station at the time, and trolley
tracks had deteriorated. As in Portland, the
tram made financial sense.
The Memphis Suspension Railway was
seen in the movie “The Firm.” It connects
the city with Mud Island. It is 3,500
feet long and travels at about 7 miles an
hour.
Perhaps less known nationally is the
Spokane Falls SkyRide that takes riders
right past city hall, drops down 200 feet
above a falls on the Spokane River, loops
under a bridge and ends near Riverfront
Park.
In 2013, the SkyRide was named “One of
the Top 12 Scenic Cable Rides in the World”
by Conde Nast.
Most of the successful trams make similarly
short trips. Ideally, they combine
some transit with tourism.
Expanding the aerial gondola idea to
mass transit was studied in Austin, Texas,
where rapid growth has choked the local
roads. The idea was to build an aerial tramway
over a road. A study concluded, however,
that it simply wouldn’t work as mass
transit.
Closer to home, Walt Disney World apparently
is planning an aerial gondola system.
Documents obtained by the Orlando
Sentinel describe six stations and three
lines connecting Hollywood Studios,
Epcot, Caribbean Beach Resort and the
lakeside area between Pop Century and the
Art of Animation resorts.
European manufacturer Doppelmayr
would be the gondola vendor.
Since Disney has its own government, it
can build this system with a minimum of
bureaucracy.
Like so many other great ideas, this is not
new to Jacksonville.
Developer Mike Balanky floated a proposal
in 2006, and the Times-Union re-
SCOTT LUCE (Spokane), AP (Portland, New York City)