What is a Greenway?
A corridor of land connecting people & places. Many are ribbons of open space located within linear corridors that are either natural and/or near bays, oceans, gulfs, rivers, and streams, or even man-made such as abandoned railroad beds. In more urban areas they may include existing but and/or shared paved roadways that enhance existing recreational opportunities, provide routes for alternative free and/or low-cost transportation, & generally improve the overall quality of life in an area. These corridors can be designed to accommodate a variety of trail users, including bicyclists, walkers, hikers, joggers, skaters, & even those individuals requiring assisted mobility devices. General Benefits
Our Southside Greenway Pinellas Trail Loop Plan
The Plan
......establishes Southside Saint Petersburg as the Pinellas Peninsula’s junction for seamlessly connecting the 75 mile Pinellas Trail Loop (Fred Marquis, Duke Energy, & North Bay trails) & the Skyway Bridge related trails (12 miles) ultimately with the FL Coast to Coast Trail (250 miles). By immediately interconnecting with these existing assets, 60% of our 13-mile multimodal sustainable transportation loop seamlessly interlinking with our City’s existing bikeways & bike trails will then be completed.
The City’s SunRunner (east-west electric rapid bus system) traveling through our Warehouse Arts District directly connects our downtown major employment cluster center (St Pete Pier, museums, museums, galleries, vast collection of culinary, arts, & shopping venues, healthcare, Innovation District, marine science research, etc.) with our Gulf Beaches major employment cluster center.
This junction also provides a direct southern connection with our Dell Holmes Park & its unique Lake Maggiore Subtropical Ecosystem via the Deuces Bikeway a biking & recreational branding of 22nd St So corridor of the City’s Deuces Live rich historic African American downtown business & adjoining neighborhood community.
This park also provides a junction with our Adaptive Cycling/Shared-Use Path providing environmental, educational & accessible therapeutic recreation while then continuing westward connecting with the Skyway & Skyway Bridge Trails & the Skyway Marina District employment cluster center.
Our Goal
With this resulting increased bicycle traffic including visiting bike tours, we wish to create equity & reconnect our previously historically excluded Southside community. If this regional approach is then properly focused upon with properly increased marketing & promotion efforts, the resulting economic benefits from this aggregation of our exiting Pinellas Peninsula’s assets will be new regional, state, & international visiting bicyclists to our:
City Arts, Museums, & Heritage • African American Heritage • Urban Ecotourism • Therapeutic Recreation
