Cyclists along the Ormond Loop, an option along the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop just north of Daytona Beach (photo by John Moran)
credible support was there from the - regional planning councils? How strong were the coalitions that could demonstrate this? How accurate were the numbers for buildout? Those that lacked demonstrably robust coalitions got lopped.
Robust coalitions weren’t the
problem for the Southwest Region or the East Coast Greenway Southeast. Southwest included seven counties, the Southeast six. Both were NIMBY challenged, and long sections were strung along arterials. The Southeast had it all on paper, but its estimate some Council members as a reach too high. Southwest was largely in place through its metros. Southeast, less, and altogether only 41 percent existed, 5 percent funded but not yet built, and 54 percent needed partial or full funding.
Southeast’s strength was its con- nections to commuter rail that came
miles south of downtown, the multi- use M-Path ran beneath or alongside its alignment. Tri-Rail that opened in 1989 along its now 70.9-mile cor- ridor had no companion trail. Nor did the elevated downtown Miami Metromover. But soon after opening each carried bikes for free. In 2012 high-speed trains to link Miami and Orlando, RTC called for a trail along its entire planned 240-mile right-of- way. Yet it wasn’t until late 2015, at event, that the train-trail link gained popular attention.
and Trails Council Chair Brian Smith when interviewed. “If it were only about serving the most people you would pick Southwest or Southeast.” But as Wood emphasized to Volusia County trail leaders on moving the Loop forward, “We want to get to a [second] whole project as quickly as we can.”
Even so, going forward wouldn’t be easy. “There are no slam dunks,”
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AmericanTrails.org
said SUN Trails Coordinator Robin Birdsong. We face a lot of very con- do exactly as we would like to do, you know, 12-to-15-feet wide. At this point counties and cities are in the process. Be it design or construction. And where nothing has been done to date, we have to do feasibility studies.” River-to-Sea TPO Executive Direc- tor Lois Bollenback explained how places along the Loop, without a people to implement some of their bolder visions, and so they’ve thought small. This is now a good opportunity, in places where a decision was made to just put in a sidewalk because nobody thought a trail would be built for another 15 or 20 years, to ask is this really what we need to go for- ward? SUN Trails changes every- thing.”
Herb Hiller consults on ecotourism and trails. He has begun a book about the region of the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop and, with co-advocates, is developing a website and social media presence for it.
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