San Antonio Skyride Project
Our vision is to bring back the historic Brackenridge Park Skyride but as a bolder and bigger connection between the airport and downtown. The big idea is to develop a privately funded Skyride along the Broadway corridor that connects the cultural corridor to downtown and the city, linking all of the “family entertainment” destinations into a single cluster of entertainment while creating a vehicle for an all-day pass to multiple venues. The Skyride connects the proposed Aquarium, the Alamo and proposed Museum, Riverwalk, Convention Center, Tobin Performing Arts Center, San Antonio Museum of Art, Brackenridge Golf Course, DoSeum, Brackenridge Park, Pearl area, Zoo, Witte Museum, and Sunken Gardens. This one-ticket alternative transportation system is a connector for tourists and residents to experience all of the cultural venues and entertainment our city has to offer along Broadway St. In Phase I, we propose to connect these points of interest with a cableway suspended above the street connected by elevated towers and stations providing a unique view of the cityscape. The 3-mile Skyride will rise over Broadway and connect Travis Park to Hildebrand. The construction of the project would have minimal impact on the surface, environment, and noise pollution. Furthermore, due to prefabricated towers, the disruption of Broadway and its surrounding businesses is of the small footprint required to erect the towers and is calculated in months instead of years. But the economic impact would be immediate and a game-changer for San Antonio.
The Technology
Cableway technology has been conventionally used to move people to and from ski resorts or other mountainous destinations, because of the flexibility and capabilities of the towers and cables to accomplish large vertical rises over variable distance. However, in the last decade this mode of transportation has begun to find a new place as urban transportation in dense population centers. Currently there are approximately 40 urban cableways on 5 continents with another 40 being planned within the next 5 years; this technology is trending for urban environments.
Next Steps
Currently, we are developing a strategic plan to accomplish the project.
— Antonio Petrov
