What is a Greenway?

 

A greenway is a corridor of land recognized for its ability to connect people and 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 and utility corridors. In more urban areas they may include existing but modified and/or shared paved roadways that enhance existing recreational opportunities, provide routes for alternative transportation, and improve the overall quality of life in an area. These trails can be paved or unpaved and can be designed to accommodate a variety of trail users, including bicyclists, walkers, hikers, joggers, skaters, and even those individuals requiring assisted mobility devices. 

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Greenway General Benefits... 

...ultimately affect the sustainability & resiliency of a region’s economic, environmental, social, & physical health by….

• Creating Value & Generating Additional Economic Activity 

• Improving Safe Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation

• Improving Health through Active Living

• Providing Safe Accessible Fun & Healthy Exercise Opportunities for Physically Challenged Individuals

• Improving & Protecting Streams, Bays, & Estuaries 

• Protecting People & Property from Flood & Hurricane Damage

• Enhancing the Heritage & Cultural Awareness of a Community's  Identity

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Southside Greenway

Our Pinellas Trail Loop Hubs Plan...

…creates a multimodal sustainable transportation network of biking trails used also for walking, jogging, and rolling to provide free or very low-cost car-free last mile City wide transportation options including our new electric rapid bus SunRunner system. Our plan’s focus is the assemblage of the existing Pinellas Trail Loop assets built upon the original Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail (46 miles). Approaching St. Petersburg from the West on the Pinellas Trail, our first connecting Hub will create a southward excursion on the Skyway Trail (4.6 miles) passing through the rapidly burgeoning South Shore Marina District while then connecting with the Skyway Bridge Trail (3.5 mile) providing fantastic recreational opportunities surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico. 

 

Returning northwardly on the Skyway Trail to the Southside Greenway 26th Ave So Hub connecting eastwardly with the north-south Deuces Trail’s (a biking & recreational branding of 22nd St So) with our southern access to the Lake Maggiore Subtropical Ecosystem (at Dell Holmes Park). When then traveling northward through The Deuces Live district (main street) it then connects with downtown St. Petersburg’s urban cultural assets: museums, art galleries, vast collection of culinary, arts, and shopping venues. The internationally award winning St. Pete Pier and our downtown parks can then also be enjoyed while leaving the downtown waterfront traveling northward on the North Bay Trail (6.5 miles) past the Weedon Island Preserve arriving at the Duke Energy Trail (22 miles) thus completing the Pinellas Trail Loop.

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Our New Economic Drivers as an Active Transportation & Tourism Plan

When ultimately completed our Southside Greenway 13 mile loop will join the country’s other elite cities utilizing an emerald necklace as an interconnected loop: Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore, Jacksonville, & Orlando. In complementing and supporting our internationally acclaimed beaches, the Deuces Trail corridor in departing southward from the SunRunner Stations 22 & 23 and arriving at Dell Homes Park will become the cornerstone in better focusing and attracting regional and national attention of our increased Pinellas Trail Loop bike traffic capabilities. Supported by an increased  focused regional and national marketing strategy will enable the replacement of much of the original lost human traffic through the racial desegregation of THE Deuces Live (the downtown) through this increased new additional biking, pedestrian walking, and rolling traffic.

 

The resulting City benefits from this aggregation of ALL our Pinellas peninsula’s trail assets: 

• Residents will now be provided additional safe low-cost transportation connections with our schools, employment/job training       opportunities, parks, recreation centers, libraries, social & medical services, and our churches. 

• With increased local, state, and international visitors, the City will now also be able to develop and concentrate upon building our following targeted tourism economic drivers: 

City Arts, Museums, & Heritage      African American Heritage      Urban Ecotourism      Accessible Therapeutic Recreation

Clicking on the below key blue locations of schools, parks, museums, art galleries, social service providers, & healthcare providers

will demonstrate how safe, economical, & very mobile transportation can now be achieved & enjoyed in a car-free environment.

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