JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's a project that would create a trail spanning from Downtown to the Beaches; a safe opportunity for pedestrian and bike travel across Jacksonville.
In a partnership between the City of Jacksonville and the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), planners are studying the potential alignments of a continuous shared-use path (SUP) from the Downtown community to the Beaches.
It's called the "Core-2-Coast" trail study.
The study would also assess the feasibility of creating local routes to link with the East Coast Greenway, a multi-use trail system that connects 15 states and 450 cities from Maine to Florida.
"I cannot stress enough how important a continuous west-to-east connector from the Downtown Urban Core to the beach communities along the Atlantic coast is to Jacksonville," a bicycle-pedestrian coordinator for the city's transportation planning department told First Coast News.
The Core-2-Coast trail would ideally start in the Riverside/San Marco area at the Fuller Warren bicycle-pedestrian bridge and traverse to the Beaches communities.
The city planner said the SUP on the Fuller Warren Bridge highlighted the "high demand for active transportation facilities citywide."
In the first three months since it opened, the path saw a staggering 83,000 nonmotorized users. The path's success has also aided in support for the Emerald Trail, which will connect and restore more than 30 miles of trails throughout Jacksonville's Urban Core.
"With the Emerald Trail serving the communities west of the SUP, the Core-2-Coast will provide connectivity for residents to the east of the Fuller Warren bike-ped path," the city planner said.
He emphasized the urban trail projects across the city serve as a result of Jacksonville's higher-than-national-average reported bicycle and pedestrian deaths.
Jacksonville is ranked the third most dangerous metropolitan area for cyclists, and the sixth most dangerous for pedestrians in the country, based on the city's reported crashes.
The city planner said that the Core-2-Coast trail study will serve as "critical steps in eliminating these crashes by improving Jacksonville's infrastructure and roadway design."
The Core-2-Coast trail was listed as a "high-priority study" in the 2023 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Update, scoring the most points out of seven other potential trails in Duval, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns counties.
Trail studies are evaluated on several factors including the amount of bike and pedestrian fatalities in the proposed area, employment, student and population density, among others.
According to the plan, at least two bicyclists and five pedestrians were killed in the area where the proposed Core-2-Coast trail would go.
"This trail is vital for creating a safe alternative transportation route, seeking accessibility for ages and abilities," said Thalia Fusté, a bike-pedestrian coordinator for the North Florida TPO. "Not only will it connect Downtown to the Beaches, but It will give users access to surrounding neighborhoods and establishments."
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While the Core-2-Coast trail project is in the initial planning phases, the agencies are looking for community input through a survey available until Monday, May 20.
In the survey, officials are asking for the public's opinion on the study, and their overall experience using urban trails.
Specifically, the survey will act as a gauge of who would utilize the paths if they are constructed.
The city planner said the roughly 16-mile trail could be suitable for federal or state funding "sometime in 2025 or beyond," as the trail study is still in its early stages.
"If such funding were awarded, we may see the trail go to construction sooner than later," he added.