We designed a trail from downtown Pensacola along the coast to the Pensacola Bay Bridge, which connects to Gulf Breeze. This project was funded by the State of Florida through their Shared-Use Non-motorized Trail program, or SUNTrail, which exists to create more pedestrian trails throughout the state.
The existing sidewalk was old, cracked, and needed replacement. We removed the 6-foot-wide sidewalk and replaced it with a 12-foot-wide concrete path along the bay. Our planned trail was approximately one mile long. Nearly one-third of its length lacked sufficient space for the 12-foot path due to coastal erosion-control rocks. For these portions, we designed a boardwalk to build above the rock. We also considered reducing lane width and shifting the road at some points to create the necessary space for the 12-foot path.
One challenge arose where our trail would pass through a missing children memorial across from Veteran’s Memorial Park in Pensacola. We created crosswalks at the park ends and extended the existing park trail width to 12 feet. This allowed us to seamlessly connect our new construction with the local landmark without disturbing the memorial. Through these solutions, we successfully created an addition to the SUNTrail system.