Parking uncertain for bike trail

Right of way set aside for the Suncoast Parkway is offered as a temporary parking spot for bike trail users.

By JACKIE RIPLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 12, 2000

ODESSA -- It should be smooth cycling once a bike trail along the Suncoast Parkway opens next year. But parking your car nearby might be another story.

"It's a linear situation we're dealing with," said Tina Russo, trail manager for Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation. "We're making the most of what we've got."

That's not much now that the property the county had identified for a trail head is no longer on the market. The owners have decided not to sell, for now, said Charner Reese, a principal planner for the county's Greenways Program.

But a temporary solution has emerged. The situation has prompted the state Department of Transportation to offer right of way on the northwest corner of the parkway's intersection with Lutz-Lake Fern Road.

"Our trail head is to be at Lutz-Lake Fern Road so no one will have to cross Lutz-Lake Fern to get to the trail," Russo said. "We wanted to make it easy to use and safe."

The land DOT has offered is planned as a future off-ramp, if and when the parkway gets an interchange at Lutz-Lake Fern. One is scheduled to be built in 2007.

County officials had hoped to buy enough land to build a trail head from the Agia family, owners of 328 acres west of VillaRosa. However, because the Agias are in the process of modifying plans for the property, they were not interested in selling, Reese said.

County officials were unable to say exactly how many vehicles the temporary trail head will accommodate because the area contains some wetlands, as well as a DOT culvert.

"A lot's going into the design," Russo said. But "we don't want people parking on the side of the road."

Construction on the trail head is to begin in October, Russo said. The DOT has given Hillsborough permission to use the right of way until 2007. After that, Russo said, county officials are looking at the possibility of connecting the Suncoast Parkway trail to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail.

The Florida Turnpike District will build trail heads in Hernando and Pasco counties, however, no money was set aside for Hillsborough County.

Consequently, county officials earmarked $300,000 for a trail head at the bike path's southern end that would include parking for 24 vehicles, restrooms, water and telephones.

The new plans call for a scaled-down $35,000 project; the remainder of the money was spent on other projects, Reese said.

The 42-mile trail will run beside the new toll road from Lutz-Lake Fern through Pasco and Hernando counties and end at U.S. 98. The northernmost section, 7 miles in Hernando, is closest to completion. State officials do not have a date when the trail will be ready but hope it opens before the toll road.

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