First phase of parallel track to Legacy Trail opens

For a 1.5-mile stretch of Legacy Trail, with more to come, walkers and joggers may now more peacefully co-exist with bicycles, scooters, rollerbladers and operators of other wheeled means of conveyance. 

On March 31, Sarasota County cut the ribbon on the first phase of bifurcated trail, a parallel, 6-foot-wide strip of asphalt designated for pedestrian users. The project is funded through a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Recreational Trails Program with matching funds from Sarasota Friends of the Legacy Trail and the Sarasota-Manatee Bicycle Club. 

The event was held at the Pompano Trailhead at 601 S. Pompano Ave., just south of the Sarasota County Fairgrounds. The parallel trail runs between Shade Avenue and Beneva Road.

Upon opening in 2008, Legacy Trail stretched 10 miles north from the Venice Train Depot into Palmer Ranch. Today, the trail extends to just north of Payne Park in downtown Sarasota with an ambition to reach Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. 

The county also recently completed an extension from the trail crossing at South Beneva Road to the north across Fruitville Road to Circus Trail, which terminiates just south of the entrance to Bobby Jones Golf Club. From there, a city project will continue the trail into Bobby Jones to the adjacent nature park and to the county’s 17th Street Regional Park.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Legacy Trail is visited by more than 600,000 users per year, Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Interim Director Shawn Yeager told the ribbon cutting crowd.

“The trail is the gift that just gets bigger, it's better, it's safer; it just continues to be an amazing amenity for Sarasota County,” said Sarasota County Commission Chair Ron Cutsinger. “One of the amazing things about the trail is it kind of crosses lines. It doesn’t matter how old you are, doesn't matter what your ability is, it doesn't even matter what your politics are. We love the trail.”

Sections of Legacy Trail between downtown Sarasota and the Palmer Ranch area were designed with additional width to accommodate bifurcating in some of the busiest sections. County commissioners in 2023 approved the widening plan, funding it with a combination of state grants, impact fee revenue and private donations.

Phase 1 is part of a 4.18-mile widening project financed by $400,000 in grants, $497,000 in grant-matching money, $117,000 in impact fee revenue and $320,000 in private donations.