A bridge at 38th Avenue N allows much more relaxing passage for cyclists, walkers and bladers.
By JON WILSON
Published October 13, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The fourth in a series of Pinellas Trail bridges has opened, completing nearly $12-million in work to make the pathway safer.
Construction crews finished a $2.2-million trail overpass at 38th Avenue N and Tyrone Boulevard late last month, a job that took about nine months.
It joins the bridge over Cross Bayou, an overpass at Park Street and a flyover across the busy triplicate Central Avenue-First Avenue S-Pasadena Avenue complex.
Before 1999, when the Cross Bayou Bridge opened, trail users had to negotiate some of St. Petersburg's busiest intersections - and manage a crossing of Seminole Bridge, where traffic counts are up to 48,500 vehicles daily, according to transportation planners.
Now it's a more relaxing hike or bike from, say, Tyrone Square Mall on 22nd Avenue N to Seminole.
The changes have brought good feedback, especially around 38th Avenue, said Jerry Cumings, the trail supervisor.
On Sundays, "between beach- and churchgoers, it was atrocious," Cumings said.
Users now need only keep their wits about them when, heading northwest off the 38th Avenue bridge, they cross a driveway to a busy strip center with a Wal-Mart.
No more bridges are pending soon in St. Petersburg. A county-produced Pinellas Trail map shows an overpass proposed for 22nd Avenue N. But a Florida Department of Transportation official said Tuesday that no such project is on the agency's five-year job list.
St. Petersburg, meanwhile, continues its plan, in partnership with the county and the Trust for Public Land, to bring the trail from its terminus on 34th Street S toward downtown along the old CSX Railroad bed.
The trail, currently 34 miles from its terminus, is viewed as the centerpiece of a countywide network planned through the year 2025.
St. Petersburg gradually is establishing its connections through the CityTrails program, an initiative to make the streets friendlier to cyclists, pedestrians and rollerskaters.
One of CityTrails' major thrusts has been striping lanes along main roads to designate space for cyclists.
More striping is scheduled soon for First avenues N and S. Both existing and new striped areas will be marked so that they will be visible at night and more easily seen during rain, said Michael Frederick, neighborhood transportation manager.
The contract for the job is pending. "Once it's signed, we can (start) in a couple of weeks," Frederick said.
Plans continue for striping on First Street N, 62nd Avenue NE to Shore Acres, then through Shore Acres on Bayou Grande Boulevard, Chancellor Street and Overlook Drive into Snell Isle.
A plan to put a side path along 62nd Avenue NE is on hold. "The price keeps climbing," Frederick said.
