The roughly 7-mile trail stretches from St. Petersburg to Tampa alongside the new bridge span, offering walkers, runners and cyclists sweeping waterfront views and a protected path separated from Interstate 275 traffic.<\/p>\n
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Among the first to make the crossing was runner Joey Merrill, who completed the full route on opening day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good run,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cHad some construction workers over there, hyping me up, too. So, yeah, it was a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merrill said the trail measured about 7.7 miles end-to-end and advised newcomers to come prepared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been running a long time, so I can obviously take it, but if you’re a little newer, I would definitely recommend taking some water,\u201d he said. Merrill also said he spotted a dolphin in the bay during the run \u2013 which made it that much more special.<\/p>\n
The paved trail is 12 feet wide and separated from traffic by concrete barriers and safety railings along the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great path, just a little too close to the traffic,\u201d said bridge visitor Matthew Wyman. \u201cI feel like if the car is wrecked, they will come right over and hit you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others said they felt comfortable using the path despite its proximity to interstate traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not be afraid of being out here right next to the Howard Frankland,\u201d said Sandy Schulz. \u201cNo, no \u2014 because it looks pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schulz, a Pinellas County resident, called the trail \u201ca big deal\u201d and said it creates a long-desired connection between both sides of the bay farther south than the Courtney Campbell Causeway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be the most perfect route,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The trail is open from sunrise to sunset and connects to existing trail systems on both sides of the bay, with access points near 4th Street North in St. Petersburg and Reo Street in Tampa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely needed it on this side,\u201d said Raphael Arroyo. \u201cBecause I kind of wanted something like you crossed closer to St. Pete. Not on the Clearwater side. Since I live here. It benefits me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arroyo noted the Florida heat could make the crossing challenging for some users.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely, you’re going to need some water. But there’s no water stations,\u201d he said. \u201cAgain, be prepared. Have enough water. The weather, especially \u2014 weather changes here quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trail includes four shaded overlook areas with benches and nautical-themed design elements, according to Austin Petersen of the Florida Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd looking at some of our overlook areas that we’ve installed \u2014 seating areas as well as some aesthetic features as well,\u201d Petersen said.<\/p>\n
Petersen said the shared-use path spans approximately 7 miles from end to end, including the causeway portions of the bridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have traffic railings along the whole entire shared use path,\u201d Petersen said. \u201cSo, there are railings built into each of the barrier walls along the path.\u201d<\/p>\n
While pedestrians, runners, traditional bicycles and some e-bikes are allowed, scooters and fishing are prohibited on the trail. There are currently no restrooms or water fountains along the route.<\/p>\n
\u201cBring water and use the restroom before you hit the trail,\u201d said bridge visitor Mike Cambell. \u201cThat’s the two best pieces of advice I can give you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cambell added the experience is worth the effort, urging people to, \u201cCome out here and check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
FDOT officials said there are currently no designated parking lots for trail users, though nearby parking is available close to the access points on both sides of the bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay’s new 7-mile multi-use trail on the Howard Frankland Bridge just opened, connecting St. Petersburg and Tampa.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-286664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}