Urban escapees will be glad they took the beaten path when a 4-mile leg of the Upper Tampa Bay Trail opens late next year.
By JACKIE RIPLEY
Published May 16, 2003
[Times photos: Mike Pease]
Harold Mountain, left, and Edgar Smith look over drawings for a county Parks and Recreation Department maintenance building on the new stretch of trail.
James Demming of Tampa carries concrete blocks to the trail's work site.
Trailgoers will be able to go under Waters Avenue without pause.
TOWN 'N COUNTRY - The Upper Tampa Bay Trail seemed little more than a pipe dream 12 years ago. Though it's still a work in progress, it is steadily taking shape.
The most recent piece, and by far the most impressive, is a 4-mile section from Linebaugh Avenue to Memorial Highway.
The project, to be complete at the end of 2004, will include a trailhead at Waters Avenue just west of Sheldon Road with a pavilion, amphitheater, restored wetlands, parking for 50, and six spots for horse trailers.
An unpaved trail will run along the paved portion for horseback riding.
"A lot of folks have been using the pieces of the trail that have been there for the last few years, but now it's really turning into the real deal," said Ed Crawford, one of the founders of Hillsborough Trails, which evolved into Hillsborough County's Greenways program.
"Now it really will be a real trail and will change people's perception about what it is," Crawford said. "As soon as people realize access is so close, the amount of users will increase exponentially."
The current trail runs 4 miles from Linebaugh north to Peterson Road Park. When complete, it will be 16 miles long and connect to the 42-mile Suncoast Trail on Lutz-Lake Fern Road.
The $5-million project also includes the extension of the Town 'N Country Greenway, which, when finished, will extend to Sheldon Road on the west and George on the east.
"An average of 100,000 people used the trail last year with just 4 miles of trail," said Tina Russo, trail manager with the county's parks department.
Environmentally sound
The portion of the trail under construction, to run alongside both Rocky Creek and Channel A, will take hikers, bikers and bladers though some of Hillsborough's most scenic areas.
Channel A is part of the Upper Tampa Bay Watershed Project, a planned 64 miles of channels started in the 1950s to handle flooding. Hillsborough County commissioners stopped the project after 12 miles when they realized that the waterways ushered untreated water into Tampa Bay, said Charner Reese, principal planner with the Hillsborough County department of planning and growth management.
But Carrollwood landscape architect Tom Levin has set about creating a restoration project that will mitigate environmental concerns while providing a place for people to reconnect with nature.
"It's something that I have felt should be done for a long time," said Levin, hired to guide wetlands restoration at the site. "It really is the first opportunity to bring together the energy and resources to accomplish it."
Workers will restore native plants to the shoreline and reshape the channel's bank to provide "a walkable slope where people can go to the water's edge, canoe on the waterway, fish or look at the birds and water life," Levin said.
"We've improved the wildlife habitat, improved the stormwater quality and improved the human experience and recreational experience," he said.
An oblong island in the middle of the channel is being created to provide a place for birds to safely build their nests.
Reshaping the bank will provide an additional benefit: creation of an outdoor amphitheater that will look down on an 800-square-foot stage.
The stage area will be used for community events such as night skates, bike rides and walks for charity.
"We want to keep it simple," Russo said. "We also want to try to keep the gates open because some people use the trail as a transportation corridor to get to and from work."
Access to this part of the trail will be helped by three pedestrian bridges: one at Memorial Highway that will help connect Alonso High School, one south of Waters that will connect to the new YMCA, and one at Sheldon Road.
There also is street crossing at Waters, as well as an underpass. Two other underpasses are being built at Sheldon and at Linebaugh. They take up less room than overpasses and avoid overhead power lines.
"Once people see this, they'll want more and more," Reese said. "It brings families out to exercise. There's no question about it. It makes living here more enjoyable."
