Gap in Cross Seminole Trail to close soon
Swap between resident, Winter Springs to give land to connect paths
Joy Perry is an avid bicyclist who often rides on the Cross Seminole Trail, a 23-mile paved recreational pathway that runs through Goldenrod, Oviedo, Winter Springs and Lake Mary.
But she has long been frustrated — like many other bicyclists — about a nearly milelong trail gap that has existed for more than a decade near Layer Elementary School in Winter Springs, forcing her to take a detour on State Road 419 or get off her two-wheeler and walk along a dirt path to connect with the other section of the trail.
“It is such an inconvenience. It’s terrible,” Perry said. “I’ll either have to ride with traffic [on S.R. 419], which I don’t like to do, or I’ll have to walk, carrying my bike across the dirt. … And If I’m wearing clips [bicycle shoes], they become full of muck, and I have to dig out the dirt.”
Perry and other bicyclists received good news this month
when Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet approved a long-sought land exchange with Winter Springs and a private landowner that will enable Seminole County finally to close the gap and seamlessly join the two segments of the trail.
“This is great,” said Winter Springs Mayor Charles Lacey, who has been looking at finding a way to connect the trail sections since he took office in 2010. “It’s finally going to be made right.”
County Commission Chairman John Horan, a Winter Springs resident who often rides his bicycle on the Cross Seminole Trail, likewise is pleased.
“This is going to be wonderful and provide safety,” he said. “Trails have become high on residents’ lists for quality of living. … Having a good trail system is a tremendous selling point in bringing in economic development into Seminole County.”
While traveling on the Cross Seminole Trail in Winter Springs, bicyclists and trail users heading west find the pathway appears to end at the entrance road into the elementary school.
To reach the other section of the trail, bicyclists and other users are forced to detour west on S.R. 419, go north on Wade Street, then travel west through an industrial park on Old Sanford Oviedo Road, where they must walk along a dirt path for several hundred feet before continuing on the Cross Seminole Trail.
To fill the gap, resident Bartholomew Phillips will give Winter Springs a rectangular 1.36-acre parcel of his land along the north side of S.R. 419 between Moss Road and the Layer Elementary entrance.
The city will then hand over the land to the state so that Seminole can use it to fill in the trail gap.
In turn, the state will give Winter Springs a 10th of an acre near the trail to turn over to Phillips in return for the property he gave up. Phillips did not return calls for comment.
The Cross Seminole Trail sits on land owned by the state. However, Seminole built and maintains the trail.
Now that the land exchange has been approved by Scott and the Cabinet, it should take about a year to complete the $500,000 project of constructing the new trail between both segments, county officials said.
The gap exists because when the portion of the Cross Seminole Trail between Winter Springs and Oviedo was built in 2003, state, county and city officials couldn’t come to an agreement with nearby property owners on extending the trail through that area near Layer Elementary.
Further complicating matters is an old rail line nearby that is still used by trains to haul materials to and from the industrial park on Old Sanford Oviedo Road, just west of the existing trail. That is why the section of the trail where the gap exists was designed to go around the industrial park and through private property.
Preliminary designs show the future trail extension will cross over the existing tracks just north of S.R. 419. Railroad crossing arms will stop trail users when a train approaches.
“This is great news for Winter Springs and trail users,” City Commissioner Cade Resnick said. “We’ve been working on this for about a decade.”
Perry also said she is pleased that she soon will be able to ride continuously on the Cross Seminole Trail without having to worry about traffic or getting off her bike.
“I’m glad to hear it. This is good news,” she said.