St. Petersburg, FL, 10/1/2008: Officials from The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit land conservation organization, will join St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker and other elected officials on Saturday, October 4, to celebrate the grand opening of an expansion of the Pinellas Trail.

In 2005, TPL worked with then-landowner CSX Transportation Inc. to purchase for conservation a two-mile rail corridor that will bring the existing 34-mile Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail into downtown St. Petersburg, creating the opportunity for users to travel safely into and out of downtown on a paved urban trail. The event on Saturday celebrates the official opening of the trail expansion to the public.

The celebration will begin with an opening ceremony from 9:30 to 10:30 at the Trail Trestle Bridge at Tropicana Field, First Avenue South at 16th Street. Participants will then walk, run, or bike about a mile to the Saturday Morning Market at First Street.

"We are very excited to join the people of St. Petersburg in celebrating the opening of this corridor," said Greg Chelius, director of TPL's programs in Florida and the Caribbean. "The Pinellas Trail is one of the things that makes St. Petersburg such a wonderful place to live, work, and play. We were very pleased to be part of the partnership that brought the trail downtown."

TPL ultimately sold the corridor to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which administered a federal appropriation to the City of St. Petersburg specifically for the acquisition. The City worked with Pinellas County to construct and manage the corridor as an addition to the Pinellas Trail. The expansion passes the historic Seaboard Coastline Train Depot that houses the St. Pete Clay Company. It then curves around Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, and joins the existing trail at 34th Street South.

The Pinellas Trail is an extremely popular urban trail extending from Tarpon Springs at the northernmost end of Pinellas County to 34th Street South in St. Petersburg at the southernmost end. Along its 34-mile length, it traverses eight towns and several waterways and connects a number of state and local parks, including Honeymoon Island State Park. Since its opening in 1990, the trail has been used by almost a million visitors each year.

More information at: http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=22548&folder_id=250

Contact Info: Becky Nielsen, 727-895-5090 ext. 203
727-580-1345 (mobile)
Becky.Nielsen@tpl.org
Anne Nelson, 850-212-0846 (mobile)
Anne.Nelson@tpl.org

Website : The Trust for Public Land