The bike trail will begin at the southern foot of Beach Boulevard and go north and west before ending at Quincy Street S just north of Clam Bayou. The portion in green follows existing roadway. The portion in yellow is a pathway that will be paved.
By JEFFREY ZANKER
USFSP Student Reporter
GULFPORT – After months of planning and sometimes raucous debate, Gulfport is getting a bike trail.
The trail will begin at the southern foot of Beach Boulevard and proceed northward to 28th Avenue S. Then it will wind its way east along 28th and then 26th avenues S, then jut northward to connect to the Skyway Trail at Quincy Street S just north of Clam Bayou.
Most of the 3.4-mile trail will be on existing streets, which will get green Bike Route signs and shared-lane markings, called sharrows, indicating that motorists and bicyclists share the roadway.
The final leg, which will run just north of Clam Bayou, will be paved. It will be named the Osgood Point Trail after a family that owned a boatyard business in Gulfport.
The Gulfport City Council voted unanimously April 5 to proceed with the plan, which will cost $243,701 and create what community development director Fred Metcalf called “a connectivity system with Pinellas.”
Most of the trail will be on existing streets, which will get green Bike Route signs and shared-roadway markings.
Pinellas has a popular, 44-mile trail that starts in downtown St. Petersburg and ends east of Lake Tarpon. The Skyway Trail starts at the Pinellas Trail just north of the Childs Park neighborhood and runs southward before ending at the north Skyway fishing pier.
The Gulfport council vote was a long time coming.
When council members held a public hearing last September on a different bike trail proposal, dozens of protesters packed City Hall to voice their objections.
The room got so noisy that Mayor Sam Henderson had to shout for control. He later called it a “Wild West show.”
Chuck Broich, who lives in the Marina district, was among the critics. He said he worried that his neighborhood would be ruined by the path.
“I do not want to see bicyclists crossing through my yard,” he said.
Opponents of the bike trail also said it would be expensive to secure and maintain, would disrupt quiet streets and give criminals a quick escape route.
Eric Kent, who cycles around Gulfport almost every day, thinks some of the opponents’ concerns are misplaced.
But Eric Kent, 38, a St. Petersburg resident who said he rides his bicycle around Gulfport almost every day, said later he thought some of the concerns were misplaced.
“People ride for the enjoyment or for their health,” Kent said. “Not everyone riding bikes commits robberies.”
Kent also said he was disappointed that much of the new trail will be on existing roads with markings and Bike Route signs.
Vice Mayor Michael Fridovich has remarked that many residents have a not-in-my-back-yard attitude.
“Everybody wants progress, if not in their front or back yard,” he said.
“It’s hard to be a bicyclist in Gulfport,” said Crea Eagen, a resident who supports the plan.
Mayor Henderson agreed.
“I want to satisfy the needs of people who come to this town without cars,” he said after the council approved the bike trail. “We want the route and this is what we got.”