Skyway


A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclosed or covered footbridges that protect pedestrians from the weather. Open-top modern skyways in mountains now often have glass bottoms. Sometimes enclosed urban skywalks are made almost totally from glass, including ceilings, walls and floors. Also, some urban skyways function strictly as linear parks designed for walking.
In North America skyways are usually owned by businesses, and are therefore not public spaces as compared with sidewalks. However, in Asia, such as Bangkok's and Hong Kong's skywalks, they are built and owned separately by the city government, connecting between privately run rail stations or other transport with their own footbridges, and run many kilometers. Skyways usually connect on the first few floors above the ground-level floor, though they are sometimes much higher, as in the Petronas Towers. The space in the buildings connected by skyways is often devoted to retail business, so areas around the skyway may operate as a shopping mall. Non-commercial areas with closely associated buildings, such as university campuses, can often have skyways and/or tunnels connecting buildings.
The world's largest discontinuous skyway network – Calgary, Alberta, Canada's "+15 Walkway" system – has a total length of. The Minneapolis Skyway System is the world's largest continuous system and spans connecting 80 blocks in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.
On a smaller scale, terminals of large airports are often connected by skywalk systems, as at Manchester Airport, United Kingdom; in many airports, retractable jet bridges provide a direct connection between airplanes and terminals.
Some cities have the equivalent of a skyway underground, and there are also mixed subway–skyway systems; see underground city.

Early examples

Besides pedestrian safety and convenience, the chief reasons assigned by urban planners for skywalk development are decrease of traffic congestion, reduction in vehicular air pollution and separation of people from vehicular noise. A number of cities have given intricate analysis to skywalk systems employing computer models to optimize skywalk layout.

Negative impacts

There is debate about the negative impact on urban areas of skyways. Robertson noted the negative impacts to street activities, and reductions to the property value at ground level. Woo found that skywalk systems could be negatively associated with promoting consumerism. Cui called for more research into the impact of skyways in developing countries. The Cincinnati Skywalk in Ohio was dismantled because of these concerns.

Cities with notable systems

North America

There are significant skyway networks in many cities in the US Midwest, such as Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Rochester, and Duluth. Most networks in North America are privately owned. Notable exceptions are skyways in Saint Paul and in New York, which are publicly owned.
CitySystemLengthBlocks connectedLink
Atlanta, GeorgiaPeachtree Center14 blocks
Arlington, VirginiaRosslyn Skywalks
Calgary, Alberta+15, +30, or +45 Walkway~64 blocks
Cedar Rapids, IowaCedar Rapids Skywalk System1.15 miles 15 blocks
Charlotte, North CarolinaOverstreet Mall10 blocks
Chicago, IllinoisChicago Pedway40 blocks
Dallas, TexasDallas Pedestrian Network36 blocks, in two separate networks
Des Moines, IowaSkywalk30 blocks
Detroit, Michigan10 buildings, ~ 8 blocks
Duluth, MinnesotaSkywalk~17 blocks
Edmonton, AlbertaEdmonton Pedway~13 blocks
Fargo, North Dakota6 blocks
Grand Rapids, MichiganSkywalk> 1 mile 7 blocks – connects 12,000-seat VanAndel Arena, JW Marriott, Amway Grand Plaza and Marriott Courtyard hotels as well as DeVos Place Convention Center
Halifax, Nova Scotia, CanadaDowntown Halifax Link
Houston, TexasHouston Downtown Tunnel System> including tunnels~35 blocks
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis SkywalkConnects the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis Artsgarden, Lucas Oil Stadium, Circle Centre Mall, Indianapolis Union Station, JW Marriott Indianapolis, and 11 other hotels.
Kansas City, Missouri"The Link" Crown Center6
Las Vegas StripSkyways are provided in lieu of street-level pedestrian crossings.
Lincoln, Nebraska7 blocks
Los Angeles, CaliforniaCalvin S Hamilton Pedway10 blocks
Louisville, KentuckyLouie LinkA glassed-in skywalk called the Louie Link stretches six city blocks and links together the Kentucky International Convention Center, Fourth Street Live!, three hotels, and 2,300 hotel rooms. In 2010 it was extended from the Galt House to the new $16 million Skywalk Garage, an eight-level, 860-space parking facility on Third Street, and a second skywalk connects from the garage across Third Street to the new KFC Yum! Center
Mankato, MinnesotaCity Center Campus~ 8 blocks
Milwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee SkywalkAbout 8 blocks. Notable connected buildings include: The Avenue, 310W, Hyatt Regency, Baird Center, Chase Tower, Empire Building, 100 East Wisconsin, Hilton Milwaukee City Center
Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis Skyway System>80 blocks
New YorkHigh Line> The pedestrian skyway and linear park on 10 m height on former elevated railway. Connects to Hudson Yards and One Manhattan West
Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City Underground~30 buildings
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania16 blocks
Rochester, New York20 buildings over 13 blocks
Saint Paul, MinnesotaSkyway> 47 blocks
Sioux City, Iowa13 blocks
Spokane, Washington16 blocks
Toronto, OntarioSkyWalk0.7 km2 blocks – Metro Toronto Convention Centre South Building and Union Station
Winnipeg, ManitobaWinnipeg Walkway18 blocks

Asia

The highest cantilevered skybridge between separate buildings in the world is in the Raffles City Chongqing skyscrapers complex in Chongqing, China. The world's longest pedestrian hanging skywalk, at 430 meters, is the Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, which sits between mountain peaks in China. The highest cantilevered skybridge as construction element of building exist atop of Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The world's highest 2-story skybridge, 170 m above the ground and 58 m long, between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors in Petronas Twin Towers dual skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which also has an elevated, air-conditioned walkway from the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre to Bukit Bintang shopping district. Malaysia also has the mountainarian tourist pedestrian glass-bottom Langkawi Sky Bridge in Kedah, Langkawi.
One of the most famous similar cantilevered skybridges, that looks like uppered ship from the bird's-eye and submarine from the ground, known in Singapore's Marina Bay Sands resort complex of skyscrapers.
One of the most impressionable hanging pedestrian skybridges, supported by two giant hands, Golden Bridge now attracts tourists in Ba Na Hills near Da Nang, Vietnam.
In Bangkok, Thailand there are more than 5.4 km of covered wide dedicated elevated skywalks with lighting. These were developed due to lack of proper sidewalks as well as street hawkers and local merchants taking advantage of any sidewalk space as makeshift commercial real estate. Common reasons skywalks were built include to avoid street pollution, dust, wetness from food vendors and/or rain, potholes, long queues, crowds, and uneven pavement, supporting urbanism but probably most importantly, tourism receipts. Most skywalks connect to a BTS station and utilize space underneath the rail line and BTS pillar supports. These skywalks have connector ramps which connect stations to malls seamlessly and are paid for by the malls themselves, otherwise the city and BTS fund walkway development. A was shelved in 2011 due to funding issues, nevertheless the system is growing organically.
In Hong Kong, there are numerous foot bridge networks across the city. Particularly large networks exists around elevated or at grade MTR stations and connections between malls and housing estates in new town centers. The largest network spans Admiralty, Central and parts of Sheung Wan districts in the CBD and consists of the Central Elevated and Central–Mid-Levels Walkway systems which link up over 40 major office buildings. The Central–Mid-Levels walkway system is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world according to Guinness World Records.Central–Mid-Levels escalator#cite note-stairway-9|Central–Mid-Levels escalator#cite note-10| Other large systems exist in Tsuen Wan and Mong Kok.
The Mumbai Skywalk Project, India is a discontinuous network of over 50 km of skywalks in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India. The skyways connect Mumbai Suburban Railway stations to important junctions, each 1 to 2 km in length. The first of these is a 1.3 km long skywalk connecting the suburban regions of Bandra and Kurla.