Legacy Trail bridges, widening projects advance

As work progresses on overpasses designed to carry Legacy Trail users over a pair of busy, multi-lane thoroughfares, Sarasota County is moving ahead with plans to widen a segment of the popular cycling and pedestrian byway.

Contractors lowered into place concrete support beams, blocking traffic along Clark Road on April 3, which will form the backbone of one bridge. Lane closures and detours on Bee Ridge Road will begin in mid-April into May to allow for similar overhead work, said Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barbara Catlin. According to the Florida Department of Transportation, the expected completion of $13.2 million projects will be in June.

The overpasses will be the trail’s third and fourth such structures, the most recent opening in 2019 over Laurel Road. Another spans Tamiami Trail in Venice. Previously, cyclists, runners and pedestrians had to cross highways with the use of surface crosswalks, which trail advocates complained was unsafe.

Also in the name of user safety, a long-envisioned widening of one of the busiest sections of the trail is moving toward reality. Contractor bids are being accepted through early May to build the 1.4-mile first phase of an additional lane from Shade Avenue in Sarasota to Beneva Road, designed to separate those on foot from those on wheels.

Using the existing trail, the project calls for construction of a parallel pathway separated from the original by a grass median.

When designers initially lengthened the Legacy Trail between downtown Sarasota and the Palmer Ranch area, they left space for eventual widening in some of the busiest sections, such as the segments north of Clark Road traversing densely populated neighborhoods and urban settings. Sarasota County Commissioners in 2023 approved the widening plan, funding it with a combination of state grants, impact fee revenue and private donations.May 6th is when expected bids will open. 

The county originally opened initial construction bids in late 2024, but they did not receive a successful bid, according to county documents, so they are redoing the process. Construction of the first phase, expected to begin this summer, is part of an overall 4.18-mile widening project, with completion envisioned in winter 2025, according to Sarasota County. Design of the project was completed last year by Kimley-Horn and Associates for $59,950, county documents show.  

The construction will be financed with a combination of $400,000 in grants, $497,000 in grant-matching money, $117,000 in impact fee revenue and $320,000 in private donations.

Plans are also in the works to build a spur that would someday route toward a nature park at Bobby Jones Golf Club, Sarasota County’s remodeled 17th Street Park and perhaps on to Benderson Park.

The voter-approved 2018 referendum that paved the way for the trail’s expansion to the north also set in motion expansions on the south end of the trail, which had previously ended in Venice. Now, a connector links all the way to North Port.

About 644,400 trail users were recorded in 2024. User figures for 2025 are lower through March than the January-March during the previous three years.