St. Petersburg
Based on the 2010 US Census Bureau population counts, can you guess the top four cities in Florida?
Here are the answers:
- Jacksonville / 821,784
- Miami / 399,457
- Tampa / 335, 709
- St. Petersburg / 244, 769
Yes, that’s St. Petersburg at number four, a city in Florida’s most densely populated county. Which may have you wondering, is there room to ride?
The answer is YES. There are 4, 521 miles of paved roads in the county. On October 9th, the City of St. Petersburg closed a few of those roads to motorized vehicles and hosted their first Open Streets St. Pete event. Whether called Open Streets or Cyclovia, the concept is the same: public roads are closed to motorized vehicle traffic and open to the public for all kinds of activities. The activities for Open Streets St. Pete included life-sized table soccer, some type of volleyball and an opportunity to paint an RV.
Lucas Cruse, City of St. Petersburg Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, took the the opportunity to demo a redesign on 3rd Street..
..with chalk drawings to show improvements.
Thousands enjoyed St. Petersburg’s first Open Streets event. Thousands also enjoy the Pinellas Trail on a daily basis. The Pinellas Trail offers room to ride from downtown St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs and beyond (this trail is part of the Coast-to-Coast Connector trail). It’s the trail I use to annually ride to a Tampa Bay Rays game. It’s also the trail used for this past Sunday’s first annual St. Petersburg Bicycle Club Brewery Ride. As a member of SPBC, I thought this would be the club ride for me.
The ride was close to 40 miles and utilized two local breweries as rest stops: Barely Mow Brewing Company in Largo and Pinellas Ale Works in St. Petersburg. This was my first club ride with SPBC and a fun one at that.
First ‘rest stop’ at Barley Mow Brewing Company
Last stop at Pinellas Ale Works with organizer Adam Mullikin and FBA Advisory Board member and former SPBC president John Sinibaldi
St. Petersburg is a happening place, no doubt. In fact, this Saturday the Florida Bicycle Association is having its annual membership meeting in St. Petersburg at the main library auditorium.
St. Petersburg is on a roll. Ride on!
Do you have a bicycle story to tell? Photos to share? Be our guest and be our next guest blogger! Send your story and photos to Becky@floridabicycle.net. Speaking of stories, our quarterly Messenger newsletter is available online for your internet reading pleasure. Visit the FBA website Home page or click here. Want a hard copy of our Messenger? Join Florida Bicycle Association or visit one of our bicycle shop members! Sign the Vision Zero Florida petition to show your support for Driving Down Fatalities to zero. If you’re OK with dying on our streets due to preventative crashes, please disregard.
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Complete Streets Savvy, or CSS, is a general bicycle educational presentation. The purpose is to provide basic information with regards to the Florida Department of Transportation’s adoption of Complete Streets policy and how cyclists and motorists can share the road safely. This presentation runs 10 – 15 minutes and is designed for legislators, civic organizations and other entities that meet regularly and need informative content. There is no fee. Make your request for CSS today!
