I-275

Susan and I have had reason to drive to downtown St. Pete several times in last few months, most recently last Saturday. As we drove down we saw all of the great landscaping along I-275 there, contrasting it with the lack we have in our section.

This subject was being discussed in our email group last month:

. . . . . Since 275 is controlled by FDOT, we will probably continue to see
little improvement. I made calls to FDOT and got a very great person on the
line. With the widening and the new wall, they did not allow anywhere
for the garbage to go, so he was concerned it will get worse. I am
working with him to try to put together a case to get the chainlink
removed. He asked that I visit a site they he is going to try to
get to replace ours. It is black and does not go under the overpass, instead it
goes up the hills near the side. While it is still ugly, it will at least
do away with the trash trap under the bridges.

This prompted this among many responses

I have a vision of seeing the fences along our interstates, particularly I-275,
set back about 20 feet - wrought iron would be beautiful, green or black chain
link would be fine, and an asphalt trail meandering along its length.
Understandably, the Suncoast Parkway Trail was designed and built as part of a
brand new road, BUT the Turnpike has received such accolades and can you imagine
how popular FDOT and a trail would be along a highway in such dense communities
as West Tampa, Tampa Heights, Seminole Heights, Sulpher Springs, and
beyond?! By the way, the project underway to widen 275 south from downtown
to the Courtney Campbell DOES include trail segments, now we need
to connect northward to our community. Granted some gaps would likely
exist but could be connected with on-road bike lanes to get you to the next
off-road part of the trail. Maybe it would need to switch back and
forth from the Taliaferro and Central sides - whatever works. The biggest
obstacle to trail building is the cost of right-of-way, in this case FDOT
already owns it and the costs would be for design & construction.

I'm sure Running Through Tampa might be able to provide some insight to such a trail.

Don't think that this could not be done. The idea to restripe Nebraska Avenue came out of Seminole Heights. With the activism we have, we could get it done.