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A Path For All: Legacy Extension and North Port Connector Joins Communities
Grand Conceptor Award, ACEC Florida. Photo source: Kimley-Horn
By Thomas Ehlers, Staff Writer
For years, a stretch of Sarasota County railroad served as a path where train cars carried acts, supplies, sets and tents for “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Today, that same corridor is allowing its citizens to walk, bike and move across the county.
The Legacy Trail Extension and North Port Connector project revitalized that 8.5 mile stretch of rail, bringing the Legacy Trail to 30 miles in length. Fully completed in late 2022, the project received an ACEC Florida Engineering Excellence Award for its success.
Sarasota County designer Kimley-Horn and contractors Jon F. Swift Construction and Haskell Construction didn’t clown around either – the project finished 831 days ahead of schedule, overcoming a worldwide pandemic and keeping citizen interest and use in the forefront.
Paving A Path
In 2018, 71% of voters approved a referendum to purchase the corridor for $66 million, paving the way for the trail’s extension. Additional support came from organizations including the Friends of the Legacy Trail, who raised money to study the feasibility of project aspects.
With a lot of capital and community support, the project moved quickly. The county and Kimley-Horn split the extension portion into three separate sections, allowing each phase to be designed and constructed at different times. This splitting allowed easier permitting for portions of the trail, while the Northport Extension represented a fourth section.
“We had three regional surveyors moving forward with this project in order to expedite the amount of survey,” said Gary Nadeau, project manager for Kimley-Horn. “Twelve miles worth of 100-foot wide corridor to survey is a pretty time-intensive endeavor, and we had to do it as quickly as possible.”
The survey portion began in May 2019, and contractors received information in August, allowing design to begin earlier. While the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it paused much of everyday life, but for the Legacy Trail Extension, it instead hit the fast-forward button.
The pandemic struck in the middle of the initial design and construction phase, but Kimley-Horn, Jon F. Swift Construction and Haskell Construction concurrently juggled each phase and submitted timely deliverables in spite of the threats to the project’s schedule, ultimately finishing two years ahead. Teams remained flexible and had to adapt to fewer in-person meetings with all parties in the same room, while COVID-19 itself caused construction crews to distance or quarantine.
Design With A Purpose
The city envisioned much of the trail as a 14foot wide path that could be expanded in the future. The wide trail allows the separation of user groups, such as walkers, runners and bicycle traffic, and its ability to expand will allow more individuals to enjoy the amenities, particularly in portions that are more congested.
Contractors had to overcome several environmental challenges that come with an aging railway. Diesel trains left petroleum contaminants, while vegetation-prohibiting chemicals left arsenic contamination.
“We knew there were areas that were contaminated, so we had to come up with engineering controls to mitigate the contamination,” Nadeau said. “We’re taking a facility that used to be a rail line that didn’t have any community access and basically put in engineering controls like in a park.”
Officials were able to bypass some of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitting regulations by using prefabricated structures over waterways and wetlands. Historic bridge trestles sat in several of these waterways, and designers kept these trestles in view of new structures to provide place and history for trail users.
It took some heavy lifting to complete both the path and surrounding areas. Construction crews moved over 100,000 yards of dirt embankment and poured over 14,000 tons of asphalt. To define the property limits of the trail, crews collected 23 miles of sediment barrier, while 175,000 square yards of stabilization material were used under paths.
On top of moving some serious earth, contractors provided other services. Utilities were added, including reclaimed and potable water main extensions, and crews ensured the path provided proper drainage and stormwater management. At several crossings, contractors installed HAWK (high-intensity activated crosswalk) beacons and RRFBs (rectangular rapid flashing beacons) to control traffic, providing safe passage of area roads. Crews installed wayfinding signage and upgraded Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) communication.
Growing An Outdoor Community
While the project extended miles of trail, it also grew available recreation spaces. The projects saw the addition of numerous trailheads and trailhead playgrounds, but none is more grand than the Pompano Trailhead.
Off South Pompano Avenue, the trailhead features 12 lighted outdoor pickleball courts, a playground and pavilions. In addition, the site held an old Florida Department of Motor Vehicles building, but it was refurbished into a community meeting space with offices for members of the county's Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources departments.
In its full span, the Legacy Trail and Northport Connector intersects 14 public parks and 27 schools, creating safe passageways for children, families and other individuals to navigate the county. The county’s Amish and Mennonite communities, who rely heavily on foot traffic or bicycles, are now able to use the path due to its close proximity to the Pinecraft neighborhood. Overall, pedestrian, bicycle, skating and other recreational traffic has a safe and secluded space to move.
Splitting The Rail
In 2022, the Legacy Trail and Northport Extension attracted nearly 675,000 users, more than double the amount of traffic from the path’s 225,000 users in 2017. This jump can be attributed to the hard work and dedication of county officials and citizens, along with the designers and contractors who supported them.
“It definitely was a complicated project made more complicated by COVID and other circumstances,” said Carolyn Eastwood, P.E., Director of Capital Projects for Sarasota County. “We can’t be any more proud of our staff and the collaborative effort. Everybody in the county came together to make this happen and the time frame that was asked of us to do for the betterment of the community.
“These projects come around maybe once in a person’s career, and this one was very special.”
In the future, the county plans to connect the Legacy Trail to the Florida Gulf Trail, a 336mile system that connects Naples to Tampa. There is also local interest in hosting Ironman events, as a 30-mile Sarasota to Venice route would be favorable to competitors. Two pedestrian bridges are on the docket for FDOT installation in 2024, allowing users to travel over congested roadways in the county.
A rail corridor for over 100 years, the Legacy Trail Extension is already impacting citizens of Sarasota County, much like the circus that used its rails to transport its acts across the state.
“In history, rail corridors often divided a community,” said Nadeau. “You take a project like this, where you build this incredible amenity, and we have effectively stitched the community back together. We’ve provided them with this conduit by which they can get to all of the community parks and all these aspects along the corridor by undertaking this improvement.”
