Skyway


A skyway, skybridge, or skywalk 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. 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 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.

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, Cincinnati, and Duluth. Most networks in North America are privately owned. A notable exceptions are skyways in Saint Paul and in New York, which are publicly owned.
CitySystemLengthBlocks connectedLink
Atlanta, GeorgiaPeachtree Center14 blocks
Calgary, Alberta+15 or +30 Walkway18 km ~64 blocks
Cedar Rapids, Iowa15 blocks-
Chicago, IllinoisChicago Pedway40 blocks
Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati Skywalk15 blocks
Dallas, TexasPart of the larger Dallas Pedestrian Network~12 buildings
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, TexasPart of the larger Houston 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, MissouriCrown Center
Las Vegas StripSkyways are provided in lieu of street level pedestrian crossings
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, WisconsinEmpire Building, Chase Tower, Grand Avenue Mall, Federal Building, Hyatt Regency, Hilton, Wisconsin Center-
Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis Skyway System> ~80 blocks
New YorkHigh Line> The pedestrian skyway and linear park on 10 m height on former elevated railway
New YorkHunter College3 blocks
Oklahoma City, OklahomaOklahoma City Underground~30 buildings
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania16 blocks-
Rochester, MinnesotaSkyway~17 blocks
Rochester, New York20 buildings over 13 blocks-
Saint Paul, MinnesotaSkyway> 30 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 now placed in local Raffles City skyscrapers complex in Chongqing, China. World longest 430-meters pedestrian hanging skywalk Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge between mountain peaks also situated in China.
The highest cantilevered skybridge as construction element of building exist atop of Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
in Singapore
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.
in Kuala Lumpur
Also wide known 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. Malaysia also have the mountainarian tourist pedestrian glass-bottom Langkawi Sky Bridge in Kedah, Langkawi.
One of the most impessionable hanging pedestrian skybridges, supported by two giant hands, Golden Bridge now attracts the 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 and walkway system#cite note-stairway-9|Central–Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system#cite note-10| Other large systems exist in Tsuen Wan and Mong Kok.
The Mumbai Skywalk Project is a planned discontinuous network of over 50 km of skywalks in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India. The skyways will 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.
Additionally, short skyways are used to connect buildings in other Asian locations.

Europe

, Belgium has a skyway between the two Belgacom Towers.
London has skywalks on the Barbican Estate and London Wall. The City of London Pedway Scheme was devised as part of the post World War II reconstruction plans for London, it was put into effect mainly from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s and eventually abandoned by the 1980s.
The twin towers of the Highlight Towers in Munich, Germany are joined by two skyways made of glass and steel.
Paris has in the 12th arrondissement the Promenade Plantée including pedestrian bridges and linear park on aqueduct on former railway.

Australia