3 things to know about the new North Port Connector to the Legacy Trail

NORTH PORT – Cyclists can now ride a paved path from the city of North Port to downtown Sarasota, with the opening of the North Port Connector.

Sarasota County broke ground in North Port at a trailhead for the North Port Connector  at 1045 Calera Street, near Price Boulevard and marked the end of a “Race to Completion,” on the cycling and running path on Sept. 9 – 851 days ahead of schedule.

Here are three things to know about the new addition to Sarasota County’s popular Legacy Trail.

Earlier: New Legacy Trail trailhead opens complete with pickleball courts

First, what is the Legacy Trail?

The Legacy Trail is a multi-modal recreational trail that connects the cities of Venice and Sarasota, using the former Seaboard Air railroad line right of way.

While amenities on that route are still being built, Sarasota County marked the completion of the connection between the Venice Train Depot and Payne Park in Sarasota in early March.

The Pompano Trailhead in Sarasota – built on land once used by the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles, next to Robarts Arena – opened in mid-July, with 12 pickleball courts and a space for food trucks

The original Legacy Trail, which opened in 2008, connected the train depot to the Culverhouse Nature Park in Palmer Ranch. In a November 2018 referendum, 70.6% of Sarasota County voters approved a $65 million bond issue to pay for the extension of the trail north to the city of Sarasota and east to North Port.

Now, what is the North Port Connector?

Technically, the North Port Connector is three trails in one – all of which more or less start where Border Road meets with the entrance to the T. Mabry Carlton Jr. Memorial Reserve, near South Moon Drive.

The connection to that point starts at the Legacy Trail near Florence Street. From there cyclists travel east along either a paved multi-modal trail or bike paths. It’s a straight shot, but the name of Florence Street changes to Edmondson Road and Border Road along the travels.

Related: Sarasota County breaks ground on Legacy Trail extension to North Port

The primitive, “hardpacked” trail, that’s been open the longest, is known as the South Powerline Trail and cuts through the Reserve and connects with the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park via a bridge that spans the creek.

To access the paved route, cyclists must travel via South Moon Drive to Forbes Trail and the northern entrance to Deer Prairie Creek Preserve. From there, the paved route travels east parallel to Interstate 75, until it turns south just west of the R-36 drainage canal, until the bridge crossing across the canal to reach the Calera Street trailhead.

For now, the Calera Street Station has a stop station and bike repair station paid for by a $50,000 grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.

City and county officials hope to one day connect that trailhead south to Warm Mineral Springs.

Earlier: Five things to know about the Legacy Trail

The connection route first envisioned ran parallel to the R-36 canal but it may ultimately veer farther west.

A third trail, dubbed the alphabet trail, connects the northern and southern entrances of Deer Prairie Creek Preserve.

What does it mean for cyclists and what’s next?

The opening of the North Port Connector – about 3 ½ miles of paved trail – gives Sarasota County a 30-mile-long connection between its two largest municipalities.

“It just opens up all of South County,” said Ron Cutsinger, vice chairman of the Sarasota County Commission. “We’re excited about the possibility of connecting to the improvements that they're looking at accomplishing at Warm Mineral Springs.

“It’s just a wonderful amenity,”  he added. “The other thing, too, is some of these bikers and organizations like a little lengthier trail for some of the longer rides and you’ll be able to do a ride from North Port to Sarasota.

Next up, Custinger noted, is an alternate multimodal path that could connect the Legacy Trail to River Road, since state plans to widen that road includes 10-foot multimodal trails on either side of River Road.

That would open up the possibility of connecting south to Englewood along River Road, as well as offering another option of connection to the Gulf Coast Trail, an effort spearheaded by the Trust for Public Lands to create and link 336-miles of pathways along the west coast of Florida.

Related: New Gulf Coast Trail director hopes to fast-track trail links

That trail would connect Sarasota, Manatee, Collier, Lee, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

“Greater connectivity opening up to areas that haven’t had a direct connection to the trails, those are things we’re excited about,” Cutsinger said. “We made a commitment to North Port about that, I’m just glad to see that fulfilled and ahead of schedule.”

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port Connector: What to know about new Legacy Trail extension