TAMPA, Fla. — Many people consider the Upper Tampa Bay Trail a gem in northwest Hillsborough County.
It’s a paved seven-mile trail with a lot of shade.
In February, Hillsborough County leaders had to close the Rocky Creek bridge, which cuts it in half. The Rocky Creek bridge is a pedestrian and bicycle multi-use bridge on the trail.
A viewer reached out to ABC Action News concerned about the construction timeline and safety aspects of the closure, so we took her concerns to the county.
“On Saturday and Sunday hundreds of people are out here. It’s amazing how popular it is,” said Debbie Voiles, the founder of Run Tampa.
She says they use this trail often, especially when doing long distance training.
“It’s a spectacular trail, a canopy of trees. There is water every two and a half miles and actual bathrooms. It is extremely popular and there is no other trail in the county that rivals this,” said Voiles.
Now there is a roadblock. Earlier this year, the pedestrian bridge had to be closed ahead of the planned replacement project, essentially cutting the trail in half.
“And this section here, there is no way to really get around it off the trail, right?” asked ABC Action News anchor Lauren St. Germain
“No, correct. There is no viable detour. Nothing. Nothing else you can do,” said Voiles.
She continued “There is safety in numbers. Now you have half the number of people using this trail because its not a viable place to do any kind of distance.”
ABC Action News met with Josh Bellotti who is the Director of Engineering and Operations with Hillsborough County.
“This bridge had been inspected and it was determined it had to be replaced. A project was created and funded by the county over two years ago to begin to plan for the replacement of the bridge,” said Bellotti.
He continued “The most recent assessment identified accelerated deterioration and a potential for catastrophic failure, and so at that point we made the decision in the interest of public safety that the bridge needed to be closed earlier.”
“At what point do you think construction will actually begin – people will see that work happening?” asked St. Germain.
“Fortunately because we got a head start on this project, the design is complete and it is advertised for construction right now. We expect bids to come in May and we are expecting to be able to get started on construction this fall,” said Bellotti
Voiles is also concerned about how long the construction is expected to take. The original release from Hillsborough County indicated the new multi-use bridge was expected to open in late 2025.
“I just can’t figure out why,” said Voiles.
“The old bridge will be completely demolished and the new bridge will be rebuilt in its place,” said Bellotti. “Our target for completion is next Summer, but if we can beat that, we are really trying to shave months off that construction if we can."
“So it’s next Summer and not the end of 2025 now?” asked St. Germain.
“Yes. That’s based on our acceleration of the construction schedule. We are users of the trail, too. We recognize it’s an inconvenience and we really want to get it back open for everybody," said Bellotti.
“It’s a gem and I appreciate so much that we have this trail, but we need to not let things like this happen,” said Voiles.
