Project slated to be finished no later than 2030
Thanks to recent, unanimous votes of the Sarasota City Commission, another segment of The Legacy Trail/Gulf Coast Trail should be ready for bicyclists and walkers within the state’s 2028-29 fiscal year, city staff has reported.
During their regular meetings on May 4 and May 18 , the city commissioners approved facets of an agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for the completion of the design plus the construction of the extension of the city’s Circus Trail to the Bobby Jones Golf Club and almost to Sarasota County’s 17th Street Park, which is north of the club property.
The total cost of the remaining work is $1.1 million, as indicated in documents provided to the board members in the agenda packets for those sessions. FDOT and the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) — of which the city is a member — will split the expense, Alvimarie Corales, manager of the city’s Capital Projects Department, explained on May 4, at the request of Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch.
The city is paying for the design work up to the 30% mark, Corales continued.
On May 4, the city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the funding agreement. However, the relevant Agenda Request Form in the May 18 materials explained that FDOT required formal approval of a resolution authorizing the execution of the agreement.
The project’s webpage on the city website explains, “The City of Sarasota has been working with Kittelson and Associates to perform the Circus Trail Extension project’s planning, environmental assessment, and 30% design. The project limits begin halfway through the existing Circus Trail, remain on the east side of Circus Boulevard, go into Bobby Jones and terminate a few feet from Sarasota County’s 17th Street Park. The existing Circus Trail starts at the corner of Fruitville Road and Beneva Road.”
That webpage adds, “The City of Sarasota’s Transportation Master Plan, Sarasota in Motion (SiM), identified trails network expansion as the #1 priority.” As part of that plan, the webpage continues, city staff determined that a connection of Sarasota County’s Legacy Trail to the Bobby Jones Golf Course (BJGC) was a top priority.
“The connection to BJGC is part of the Gulf Coast Trail found in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — Office of Greenways and Trails map,” the webpage points out. The Gulf Coast Trail eventually will become “part of Florida’s regional trail system,” it says.
Several years ago, it continues, the City Commission agreed that a “large portion of BJGC” would be transformed into a nature park and conservation area, “allowing the City to connect BJGC with Sarasota County’s 17th Street Park through this trail system.”
The city funding agreement with FDOT explains that the primary goals of the 0.647-mile undertaking “are to provide a continuous trail connection as part of the Sun Trail and Gulf Coast network; and provide a safe, physically separated trail for nonmotorized users.” The shared-use path will be 12 feet wide, an engineering graphic shows.
The design of the extension is to be completed by March 31 2028, that document notes, with the construction to be finished by Dec. 31, 2030.
Improving an old trail
During the May 4 City Commission meeting, Corales of Capital Projects used Google Maps to show the board members — again, at Ahearn-Koch’s request — the route of the extension.
“This is an old trail,” Corales stressed. “It’s cracked. There’s a lot of things going on.”
She also pointed to the area where the improved trail will end, noting, “The idea is, once it’s built, we can partner up with Sarasota County and then Sarasota County can help us determine where they want the crossing, and we can get into an agreement with them to move the project forward to the next stage.”
In response to a question from Ahearn-Koch about the timeline, Corales said that the city’s design work “is slated to be completed by fall of this year.” The remaining design work will start immediately after that, she indicated. That should take a year to 18 months, she added.
When Ahearn-Koch sought assurance that all of the necessary funding is in place for the work, Corales assured her that it is.
Ahearn-Koch made the motion on May 4 to approve the FDOT and MPO funding, and Commissioner Kyle Battie seconded it. The motion then passed 5-0.
Another piece of the trail ‘puzzle’ put in place earlier this year
On March 26, another segment of the Florida Gulf Coast Trail that was completed will tie into the Circus Trail.
As The Sarasota News Leader reported, representatives of the Trust for Public Land, the Friends of the Legacy Trail, Sarasota County Government and other partners celebrated the opening of the new Beneva Road Connector, a half-mile, multi-use trail that links The Legacy Trail at Beneva Road to Fruitville Road.
“This new connector marks an exciting milestone in the development of the 420-mile Florida Gulf Coast Trail, which will ultimately unite seven counties from Tampa to Naples,” a Trust for Public Land news release explained.
The Beneva Road Connector, representatives of the Trust and county staff have pointed out, will help users safely reach the City of Sarasota’s Circus Trail, the Nature Park at Bobby Jones Golf Club and Sarasota County’s 17th Street Regional Park. Plans call for a future connection from the regional park to Nathan Benderson Park, home of the county’s international rowing facility, which is located south of University Parkway.
Former county Commissioner Charles Hines is the program director for the Florida Gulf Coast Trail.