entirely built. The Loop, although conceived earlier than C2C, lacked the organizational structure that Al- len brought to his project. It was only 30 percent complete (though half- programmed) at the time of its SUN Trails award in April this year. On the other hand it had the virtue of incor- porating the southernmost portion of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, an African-American-fo- cused National Heritage Area that was already attracting State and national touring companies.
It was their complexity that left the two most ambitious regional contend- ers out of the running.
A bridge over the Legacy Trail that connects Venice with Sarasota in its namesake county, key component of the Florida’s Southwest Region of trails.
The second regional trail awarded $40-plus million was a 260-mile loop River-to-Sea Loop (SJR2C) had an unbeatable location. It was in U.S. Representative John Mica’s former large multi-county district when he chaired the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. - nance showcase trails through Volusia County, where an impassioned trails advocate, Pat Northey, served on the county council. Northey— dubbed “Queen of Trails”— secured an annual $1 million commitment for trails from a voter approved fund that invested in environmental, cultural, and ecotour- ism projects.
It helped that the Loop overlapped with the Coast-to-Coast Connector (C2C) through parts of Volusia and Brevard counties, and that in 2014 a new SunRail commuter line linked southwest Volusia to metro Orlando. Cyclists with their bikes soon began showing up at DeBary Station to ride the Loop for days at a time. Ken Bryan gave the Loop its form. Bryan is a 20-year master of govern- ment process. Together with Allen, he worked the Legislature for C2C fund- ing. With Mica’s support and longtime advocate Kraig McLane of Palatka, he secured the money to acquire a trail that linked St. Augustine east-west
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across 18 miles with East Palatka on the St. Johns River. He also secured the East Central Regional Rail-Trail that ran east-west between Titusville and DeBary, and worked on the Spring-to- Spring Trail that continued north to the river town of DeLeon Springs. An 18.6-mile section was already in place along the sea.
Complexity rules out the metros Wood had made clear that although
SUN Trails funding was good for only however many individual trails were accepted into the program would get
OGT divvied up the State priority trails map to come up with 17 regional candidates. These covered the Pan- handle to the Keys. The Greenways and Trails Council set criteria for rank- ing what ultimately became the two – CTC and SJR2C for completion by DOT. Almost all showed they could serve their regions by becoming their own destinations. Most showed their trails would support economic devel- opment and improve safety. Lack of commitment to fund operations and maintenance was a deal-breaker. All came through on this. But Council dug deeper. How much was already invested in these regionals, and with what future com- mitments? What readiness was there to complete the system or have it fully
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