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 