Charles Hines envisions 420 miles of biking trail, stretching from St. Pete to Collier County.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: December 27, 2024
Host: Many of us have biked or otherwise used the Legacy Trail. But we are just vaguely aware of the expansion plans for the trail, and probably not aware of the big plans to connect with other existing trails south and north of here. Think along the lines of biking all the way from Naples to Tarpon Springs without having to look over your shoulder for any cars. Charles Hines is an attorney and former Sarasota County Commissioner, and he is now spearheading the project. Hines works for the Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit that wants to create public spaces for people to connect to the outdoors. The organization is doing trail work across the country, including the Pinellas Trail and the Legacy Trail. Cathy Antunes, host of The Detail on WSLR, interviewed Hines this week, and here is a summary.
Johannes Werner: The Trust for Public Land negotiated the deal with the railroad, and it was the force behind the Sarasota County ballot measure for the Legacy Trail funding that passed with 72% of the vote. That expanded an existing trail from Venice to Payne Park and downtown Sarasota. The Legacy Trail now has close to 800,000 users per year.
But that was just the first chapter. The overarching goal is to create a Florida Gulf Coast system with 420 miles of trail. One big goal is to make commuting by bike attractive and less dangerous.
Charles Hines: Tampa, St. Pete, down to northern Collier County — and I’m putting the task on me to do a better — and we’re getting there, to create this regional recognition publicly of the trail.
If you talk to planners and county folks, state folks, they know it, but what happens is segments get done, but they’re usually local segments with the road project, or with a legacy trail, which was all Sarasota county. So, we’re trying to get it so that this whole region recognizes that when we put this trail together, then we have an amenity that has regional impact.
And so, you’re talking about economic redevelopment, access to schools to parks, getting more bikes off the road into a safer place where you’re not riding a five mile segment, and then you got to get off and get into a bike lane.
JW: As the trail is reaching densely populated areas and connecting places of interest, such as schools, there is increasing use by daily commuters.
CH: It’s hot or it’s raining, but if you watch the weather, and you’re close enough to work, and now that electric bikes are allowed on the trail, you can get to and from work. If you lived in the Ashton area somewhere, and you work downtown — that’s what I’m starting to hear people beginning to use it as a true transportation alternative. The health or a recreational use.
JW: What’s next? New bike lanes along Ringling Boulevard already connect the Legacy Trail across downtown to the bay, and eventually on to Lido and Longboat Key. Then, there is the Nathan Benderson Park extension towards the Northeast, connecting first to the new Bobby Jones Park and the UTC mall, and eventually Lakewood Ranch, with an overpass over I-75.
CH: The next one is the overpass that’s going to occur to get you out to Lakewood Ranch from Nathan Benderson Park. So it’s just an overpass. It’s not an interchange. That will include the trail. So now you live in Lakewood ranch. You got a protected bike lane to get you all the way to downtown Sarasota and vice versa. So that’s how close we are. And what I said, that description, that’s already underway. So, that’ll be the next big game changer in Sarasota County.
JW: That branch would potentially expand north to Manatee County and Tampa. Down south, there is an extension to Englewood and North Port, with a connector to Warm Mineral Springs coming soon. That branch would connect to Fort Myers and Naples.
Hines’ work is in part about being ahead of the game, and he is talking to developers about accommodating a bike trail in their plans. In developer circles, word is spreading that connecting to a bike trail and the overall system actually increases real estate values.
CH: So, you got to kind of be ahead of the game. I mean, you understand how development works. You don’t buy a piece of property and develop it next year. There’s years and years of planning that goes into, where do the roads go? Where do the sewers go? Where did the stormwater stuff go?
And so what I got to try to do is, with these larger developments that are happening in southwest Florida is say, can we align the trail through here and make it match up with your development so that your residents can have access to it?
JW: The Gulf Coast Trail is part of the Florida-wide SunTrail system, under which eventually everything will be connected. The connecting pieces are already being talked about in Manatee, Charlotte and Lee County.
Again, this was Charles Hines, who is spearheading the Gulf Coast Trail project, on Cathy Antunes’ The Detail show on WSLR. To listen to the full interview on wslr.org, click on “archive” and search for the latest edition of The Detail.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
