Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Progress Bring Made In Upper Tampa Bay-Suncoast Trail Connection

As you know, SWFBUD lobbied Hillsborough County Commissioners to extend the Suncoast Trail south while county officials work on extending the Upper Tampa Bay Trail north to make the connection between the two trails. Nice to see some progress in the connection between the two trails as this St. Pete Times story explains that ground will be broken in the first part of the connection.

The Times story says that construction of a 4.2-mile stretch running west and south from Lutz-Lake Fern Road and the Suncoast Parkway will begin next spring or summer. Stretching the Upper Tampa Bay Trail northward hit a snag when several homeowners balked at selling easement properties, so the alignment is being altered to run west to Lake Rogers Park and then will cross Gunn Highway again eastward to eventually hook up with the trail. The entire connection will be about 10 miles and this first phase from Lutz-Lake Fern Road will be one of three segments to make the full connection.

When connected into one continuous trail, this paved multi-use path will run 57 miles long and be the longest trail in the state of Florida. Nice to see Hillsborough County can make positive headlines by saying it will be host to Florida's longest trail.

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