Residents to add their 2 cents to 11 miles of trail
The folks behind Oldsmar's proposed walking trail want your ideas at a meeting tonight.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published February 11, 2004
OLDSMAR - There's 11 miles of pavement to be laid.
Where do you want it to go?
At 6 p.m. today at the city's fire station, residents will help draw the major arteries for Oldsmar's proposed walking trail, which, when finished, will link neighborhoods to city parks by foot.
At tonight's meeting, people will be handed a map, given a pen and told to get to work, city Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Rives said.
And though not everyone's suggestion will make it all the way to the concrete, many ideas could be incorporated into the city's final design, Rives said.
"We are looking at everyone's input," Rives said.
City officials have been discussing a comprehensive walking and bicycle trail since 1994. So far, only ones at the Harbor Palms Nature Park and near Moccasin Creek have been built. Rives said the city will build the remaining trails in phases over the next six years.
Overall, the city has budgeted $900,000 through 2009 for the project. Officials also have applied for a federal grant to help offset some of the costs.
In the end, the city hopes to have an 11-mile network of trails before 2010.
But already there are obvious trouble spots. For instance, how are bicyclists going to cross Tampa Road at rush hour? What's the safest route from Canal Park to the Brooker Creek Preserve?
Rives said the city is still searching for some answers.
And that's why citizen input is needed.
As for Tampa Road, Rives said the city might try to create some distinctive crosswalk to alert motorists. But maybe one day, he said, the city could build a pedestrian overpass. For instance, there's already an underpass just east of the Lake Tarpon Outfall Canal on Curlew Road for pedestrians to navigate there, Rives said.
"There are a lot of possibilities with this," he said.
If you go
What: Public meeting to discuss the creation of Oldsmar walking trail
Where: Oldsmar Fire Station, 225 Pine Ave. NWhen: 6 p.m. todayFor more information: (813) 749-1260[Last modified February 11, 2004, 01:32:01]
