Downtown Revitalization: St. Petersburg

[Metro Jacksonville]

Downtown Revitalization: St. Petersburg



With over 35 miles of bike trails and 75 miles of on-street bike lanes, it's recognized as one of the top 10 cities in the country for cycling.  Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a look at the downtown of Florida's most bike friendly city: St. Petersburg

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-dec-downtown-revitalization-st-petersburg

[Noone]

Enjoyed the photo tour and history

[peestandingup]

Love that Pinellas Trail. Its useful for both recreation AND actually getting to places safely without the need for a car. Here we'd throw it in the middle of nowhere & not connect it with anything (see: Baldwin Trail & S-Line  Greenway).

[tufsu1]

The Pinellas Trail is great, but let's not be so critical psu.....the trail was built in stages, and the S-line can be the same way (recently extended up to Gateway)....there's also no such thing as "middle of nowhere" in Pinellas County, since the whole thing is urbanized.

[Adam W]

I really love downtown St Petersburg. It's beautiful and it's really come a long way over the past 10 years or so.

[thelakelander]

I enjoyed the Pinellas Trail.  My dad attended Gibbs Junior College in the 1960s and growing up, we'd visit friends in the vicinity of 9th Avenue S, and I remember boxcars on the stretch east of 34th Street in the 80s. I ended up riding the trail from downtown St. Pete to downtown Clearwater before turning around to make it back before nightfall.  The next day, I rode through Old Northeast, which is a pretty nice residential historic district.

[thelakelander]

Here are a few more pics from the Pinellas Trail:

[peestandingup]

The Pinellas Trail is great, but let's not be so critical psu.....the trail was built in stages, and the S-line can be the same way

Sure it could, but likely won't be. That's kind of the problem here isn't it? Sticking to plans & actually making these types of things usable. It seems Jax has a real problem with this, esp if it's transportation related. It's like the leaders (and a lot of the overall mindset of the population) can't wrap their heads around it if it doesn't include the automobile. They even argue about it in the urban areas, wanting drive up parking spots just like the way it is in the suburbs. Never understanding that the real answer is to lessen car dependency.

The reason I'm so critical is because these things never pan out. I know there's plans for it to, but you see how far those plans have gotten us so far (moratorium). If I'm wrong & the S-Line somehow magically gets wrapped around the whole of Jacksonville in the next 10 years, or even in the core, I'll come right back here & eat crow, let you guys throw eggs at me, whatever you all want. But I'm pretty sure I'm safe.

[cline]

The Pinellas Trail is great, but let's not be so critical psu.....the trail was built in stages, and the S-line can be the same way

Sure it could, but likely won't be. That's kind of the problem here isn't it? Sticking to plans & actually making these types of things usable. It seems Jax has a real problem with this, esp if it's transportation related.

Actually, Jax has a stellar track record of following through with transportation projects- as long as they are only roadway building project.  Look at how money appeared out of thin air so that we could railroad through the new 9B.  When it comes to any transportation projects that do not involved paving over paradise with arterials, well then you are correct.

[thelakelander]

While we certainly have our struggles, the Pinellas Trail is 29 years in the making.  I think it supports the notion that these types of projects happen incrementally.  A small starter segment ended up being popular enough to gain the support of voters to fund a larger countywide corridor.

The Fred Marquis Trail began as a vision in 1983. A man whose son was killed while riding his bike, helped form the Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organizations Bicycle Advisory Committee, consisting of bicycle enthusiasts. The committee, in conjunction with the Pedestrian Safety Committee, wanted a safe place to enjoy bicycle riding, strolling or jogging. The county had a separate problem - what to do with a 34-mile corridor of abandoned CSX railroad right of way.

The committees’ dream became a reality in 1990, when the first 6-mile section of the Pinellas Trail opened, connecting Taylor Park in Largo to Seminole Park in Seminole. The trail became immensely popular, with usage figures exceeding all expectations. With the passage of the first Penny for Pinellas one-cent local option sales tax, plans were put into motion to connect the County, from north to south, with a continuous trail.

http://www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd/history.htm

[peestandingup]

True, you have to start somewhere. But the quote from the article mentions the first leg of Penillas Trail was extremely popular, giving them the momentum to move it forward & expand it. How popular is the S-Line? If I had to guess, I'd say not very. Most people probably don't even know about it, as it's trail head entrance is in a scary (abandoned looking) industrial neighborhood, not to mention rolls through some pretty rough looking areas. Plus, it doesn't really connect to anything. I've ridden it several times & seeing other cyclists isn't too common. They're there, but certainly not in any great numbers.

What I'm getting at with all of this, is why didn't they do something more significant & thought out at first, or connect it to more populated areas? Afraid it might actually be a hit?? It kinda reminds me of the Skyway to nowhere & how they implemented that. "Look, this thing's a failure. Clearly no one wants this type of stuff here. Oh well, we tried."

[tufsu1]

since when is Springfield not a populated area?

[thelakelander]

By no means am I going to defend the planning behind the S-Line. That was simply a case of winning rails to trails money....probably just like the Pinellas Trail. The S-line just happens to be less than 5 miles long and the Pinellas Trail is on an abandoned countywide rail ROW. With the mobility plan, the intention is to link isolated bike infrastructure to form a comprehensive and integrated bike network.

[thelakelander]

If anything, they are both the results of Jax being a significant distribution/rail hub and Pinellas not. Other than the S-Line, we don't have any major stretches of abandoned track in the core to convert to multi use trails. Most of those Pinellas cities don't have active rail service today.

[BackinJax05]

If the Vinoy can be brought back from the dead, so too can the Bostwick!