The St. Johns River Ferry remains closed Friday morning until port conditions improve in the wake of Tropical Storm Nicole.

With the local gas tax set to double in Jacksonville next month, there is a push by one City Council member to stop it.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority will receive $1.7 million in federal grant money to replace and expand the Skyway.

The Jacksonville City Council during a special meeting Wednesday voted to double Duval County’s gas tax, raising it from 6 cents to 12 cents a gallon.

There were a lot of questions raised but few answers when the Jacksonville City Council met Wednesday to discuss a proposal to double the city’s gas tax.

Members of Jacksonville City Council on Wednesday morning started to hear from stakeholders in the proposed gas tax increase and how the money would be used for infrastructure needs across the city, including a massive expansion of the polarizing Skyway.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than one-third of the money raised from the proposed 6-cent hike in Jacksonville’s gas tax would be used to expand the Skyway -- the underutilized automated downtown transportation system. At the time there was an outcry from people not wanting to see local tax dollars spent on the system. AdTommy Hazouri, who the mayor at the time, wasn’t even keen on the project, then called the ASE -- the Automated Skyway Express. I think it’s an expensive means of transportation for Jacksonville, but it’s with us. Now, despite millions that would go to fund Skyway expansion, Hazouri said the city is still keeping that promise to taxpayers.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Transportation Authority plans to open a Skyway passenger station at the edge of the growing Brooklyn neighborhood by September -- its first new station since the city’s existing elevated rail system was completed 25 years ago. It will link to the Central Skyway Station at West Bay and Lee streets in LaVilla and continue on to the existing Downtown and San Marco stations. Passenger parking will be provided at an existing JTA surface lot off Riverside Avenue. Two refurbished Skyway trains will be used for the station wrapped in a “Brooklyn Shuttle theme,” according to a JTA project summary obtained by the Jacksonville Daily Record. “There’s no better destination right now than the activity that’s happening in Brooklyn.”Shuttles will connect from the Brooklyn Station to carry people deeper into Riverside.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Transportation Authority will transition bus operations from the Rosa Parks Transit Station to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center at LaVilla on May 4, according to a release. The JRTC at LaVilla is located at 100 LaVilla Center Dr. near the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. The JRTC at LaVilla will replace the Rosa Parks Transit Station as the JTA’s main downtown bus transfer facility, serving most JTA regular and express bus routes, the Skyway and the First Coast Flyer Bus Rapid Transit network. All JTA bus routes will continue to operate on a “modified weekday schedule” to promote social distancing and to ensure safe travel for everyone, the release said. The east half of the Rosa Parks Transit Station will be closed and prepped for future transit-oriented development projects.