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Times Editorial

Now's time for a trail on Courtney Campbell

By Times editorial
Published December 28, 2006

Now here's a great idea: a pedestrian and biking trail running the length of the Courtney Campbell Parkway.

On Christmas Eve, a story in the St. Petersburg Times revealed that the Florida Department of Transportation is investing $400,000 of grant money in a study of the idea.

This is not the first time that the possibility of a trail linking Clearwater and Tampa via the Courtney Campbell Parkway has been raised. It is one of the formal objectives of the Courtney Campbell Causeway Scenic Highway Program, developed in conjunction with the parkway's designation as a Florida Scenic Highway in 2005.

But the idea is even older than that. In the late 1980s, proponents of beautifying the then-barren causeway in time for Super Bowl XXV in 1991 hoped to landscape the roadway, then start working to raise public support and money for a short pedestrian trail on the Clearwater end of the parkway, among other ideas.

However, this is the first time that real money and a formal process have been committed to studying whether it is feasible and affordable to build a trail along the water parallel to the highway.

Local officials believe there is plenty of extra space alongside the highway for a trail. Narrow service roads that accommodate one-way vehicle traffic flank both sides of the highway along much of the parkway's 9.9-mile length.

The problem occurs at the causeway's bridges, which are not wide enough for pedestrian and bicycle lanes. Engineers would either have to extend the bridges or design a separate, detached trail structure over the water. Either alternative could be expensive.

Also, creating a safe haven for pedestrians alongside a highway where traffic moves at 60-plus mph, without blocking the water views to passing motorists, could present some design challenges.

Yet a more beautiful place for a trail could hardly be imagined. The view of the water and sky from the Courtney Campbell is exceptional. The parkway already has trees, mangroves and formal landscaping that could provide some sheltered rest and relaxation areas for trail users. Tie-ins to Clearwater's Cooper's Point natural area perhaps could be created.

And nowhere else in the Tampa Bay area could walkers, joggers and bicyclists find a safe trail with the great amenity of a public beach on either end.

The real possibility exists that such a trail would be even more popular than the 2.6-mile Friendship Trail Bridge, which opened in 1999 on the skeleton of the old Gandy Bridge linking St. Petersburg and Tampa. That trail now attracts about 600,000 users annually, but the span doesn't have as many scenic pluses as the Courtney Campbell.

The trail study is just one more way that the profile of the Courtney Campbell Parkway is being raised, in large measure through the efforts of Clearwater City Council member Bill Jonson, environmental advocates and government officials on both sides of Tampa Bay.

The parkway provides a unique entryway into Clearwater and Pinellas County for millions of visitors and tourists alike, and there is much opportunity to make it an even more appealing amenity.

[Last modified December 28, 2006, 06:38:34]