Before sunrise, a long-closed part of Tampa’s Riverwalk reopens

Good news for walkers and runners who have endured a year and a half of being rerouted off the Tampa Riverwalk and onto a busy downtown thoroughfare: The pedestrian path behind the Tampa Convention Convention Center, with its breezy views of boats passing along the channel, reopens Saturday at 6 a.m.

That section of the Riverwalk closed for a $38 million convention center expansion that included adding 23,500 square feet to its top floors, with 18 new upper-story meeting rooms with sweeping floor-to-ceiling views. Construction, which included bringing in steel by barge and a crane working from the water, made it unsafe for people on the Riverwalk, according to a spokesperson for the convention center. That section was gated and people were rerouted to the sidewalks on busy Channelside Drive.

With construction complete, the Riverwalk behind the convention center reopens at 6 a.m. Saturday, according to Kirstin Albert, communications coordinator for the convention center.

“We just appreciate everyone’s patience,” Albert said. “We know everyone loves the Riverwalk. We love the Riverwalk.”