Sarasota Livin'

Seems our county commissioners decided to give up $11.75 million that the State of Florida would kick in (which was the county's full purchase price) if the trail could be used for a possible light rail system in only 10 years. I agree.

If I were betting it would be 2 to 1 odds that the county could have gotten the money and the State would not have been ready to do the light rail thing even in ten years.

I really love the idea of riding my bike / hiking on that trail and I would not want a train spoiling it with me stuck on a narrow trail next to the tracks. What we need now is more "surplus" railroad line to get from downtown Sarasota (or even better from the Manatee River) to south of Clark road to connect to it.

I bet it takes a few years before it is ready. The county plans to spend between $13 and $18 million to design and build the trail replacing the current rail road tracks. So it is at least $25,000,000 for a 12.5 mile trail 100 feet wide... maybe that is expensive at $2 million a mile... but maybe if not now - when - and how much then..

Hey state of Florida ... think about I-75 for a light rail line - use the space between the north and south bound lanes.