CLEARWATER
TIMES
Monday * September 20, 1999
For Inline Skaters, Trail is among nation's best
* In a poll released by Rollerblade Inc., the 47-mile Pinellas Trail was named one of the top 10 sites in the country for people who skate for fitness.
By JULIANNE WU
Times Staff Writer
SEMINOLE -- The 47-mile
Pinellas Trail has been voted one of the 10 best places to skate for
fitness in the United States, the only Florida location on the list voted
on by the inline skating industry.
From left, Ronda Smaridge of
Safety Harbor and Amy Segneff of St. Petersburg walk while Deborah
Dietrich of Largo and Deborah Barrick of Dunedin skate on the Pinellas
Trail in Dunedin. The four are part of an inline skating group
called Saturday Skate. Segneff injured her arm while skating in July
so Smaridge was walking with her.
"I hadn't heard about the survey, but it's great," said Largo resident Terry Papineau, 45, on a stretch of the trail near Largo's Taylor Park on a recent Saturday. Papineau, training for an upcoming skating marathon in her native Duluth, Minn., usually skates about 15 miles at a time, three days a week.
"This trail gives you the feeling of not being in a crowded city," she said. "You're away from it all."
That view was shared by Deborah Dietrich, 48, also of Largo, who skated with a dozen others on the trail near Dunedin's old Main Street recently.
"We think it's a lot safer than city streets," said Dietrich.
Rob Livingston, a St. Petersburg graphic designer, agrees: "The Pinellas Trail has easy access to refreshments and restrooms. And we can skate in lots of scenic areas, where we wouldn't normally have access."
Livingston, 45, is the unofficial leader of an informal Saturday skaters' group. "No dues or meetings and it's open to adults over 18," he said. "We simply meet in the parking lot behind the SunTrust bank at 9:30 a.m. every Saturday."
The Pinellas Trail's newest honor is welcome news to many others, including officials.
"We love it that we've been included," said Wit Tuttell, St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau public relations director. "In fact, we're now using the Rollerblade Inc. information in our fliers."
Tuttell said his office gets several calls or e-mails a month or about 50 requests a year specifically about the Trail.
When the Trail was designed in the late 1980s, "we knew skaters would be using it, too." said Brian Smith, Pinellas County Planning Director. "We weren't sure whether they would be fancy roller skates or Rollerblades, but we knew there would be little wheels."
With that in mind, Smith explained, the county planners and the Public Works Department chose to install a smooth, paved, asphalt path instead of crushed shell, clay or dirt composition.
"This survey just confirms that we knew," said Smith. "You really have to provide the right kind of trail if you want it used by various groups."
Smith said the county has budgeted $300,000 for the coming fiscal year to smooth out any surfaces along the trail that have ruts, overgrown roots or other obstructions.
At the Pinellas Trail office in Seminole, park supervisor Jerry Cumings gets about 100 requests for trail information a year. "Many of the people, even from Europe, want to know if the trail is paved," he said.
Winners in the Rollerblade Inc. survey were chosen mainly for the length and terrain of their trails or bike paths "to provide an intense warm-up and workout for all fitness levels." Other criteria included proximity to parking lots, refreshments and restrooms.
Also in the top 10: Coyote Creek Trail, San Jose, Calif.; Cherry Creek Path, Denver; Busse Woods Schaumberg, Ill.; Tammany Trace, New Orleans; Minuteman Rail Trail, Boston; William Munger Trail, St. Paul. Minn.; Mowhawk-Hudson Bikeway, Albany, N.Y.; Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y.; and East Bay Bicycle Path, Providance, R.I.
"We're proud the Pinellas Trail is getting national recognition," said Scott Daniels, president of Pinellas Trails Inc., a non-profit organization that provides amenities on the trail such as bike racks, concession stands, etc.
The Pinellas Trial opened Dec. 1, 1990, with a 5-mile stretch between Largo's Taylor Park and Seminole City Hall.
"It was really due to efforts of Albert 'Bert' Valery," said Daniels. "When his teenage son, Bert Jr., was killed as he biked across the Belleair Causeway, Bert Valery (Sr.) crusaded for safe bike paths."
After getting the endorsement of 15 municipalities in Pinellas County, Valery persuaded the Metropolitan Planning Organization in 1984 to create a countywide bicycle advisory committee, which he headed for its first two years.
In 1989, the Pinellas Trail project was approved by the Board of County Commissioners, with $1.5-million appropriated for the first 15-mile segment. In the same year, voters approved a 1-cent sales tax referendum, Penny for Pinellas, to provide additional funding to build a total of 35 miles.
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