The Legacy Trail is an multi-use recreational

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

connecting

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

and

Venice, Florida Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The city includes what locals call "Venice Island", a portion of the mainland that is accessed via bridges over the artificially created Intracoastal Waterway. The city is located in ...

. It runs along a former portion of the

Seminole Gulf Railway The Seminole Gulf Railway is a short line railroad, short line freight and passenger excursion railroad headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines in Southwest Florida. The company's Fort M ...

corridor (most of which was originally a

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

corridor). The trail runs from the Historic Venice Train Depot to Fruitville Road in

. The original segment of the trail from Venice to Palmer Ranch opened in 2008 and it was extended to downtown Sarasota in 2022.

Route description

The Legacy Trail begins in Venice at the Historic Venice Train Depot. At the depot, which now operates as a bus terminal for

Breeze Transit Breeze Transit (previously Sarasota County Area Transit, or SCAT) provides public transportation for Sarasota County, Florida and is operated by the county. Breeze maintains 14 fixed-line bus routes, four curb-to-curb service zones, and a dial-a-r ...

, the trail connects to the

Venetian Waterway Park The Venetian Waterway Park is a concrete trail in Sarasota County, Florida located in Venice. It was a public–private partnership between Venice Area Beautification Inc. (VABI), Sarasota County, and the city of Venice. It consists of two tra ...

(which runs south along the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

). From the Venice Depot, the trail runs north along the former rail corridor, crosses over the U.S. 41 Venice Bypass on an overpass, and enters Nokomis. North of Nokomis, it crosses Dona Bay and passes through Laurel. Another overpass carries the trail over Laurel Road. North of Laurel, the trail passes underneath State Road 681 and runs through Oscar Scherer State Park, where it connects to the park's trails. It continues north through

Osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

and passes Culverhouse Nature Park near Palmer Ranch. The trail crosses Clark Road just north of Palmer Ranch and continues north through Bee Ridge and Sarasota Springs. The trail crosses Bahia Vista Street and Phillippi Creek before turning west toward downtown Sarasota. At Shade Avenue, a short spur continues west to School Avenue while the main trail turns north and passes Payne Park before terminating at Fruitville Road.

Historic elements

The Legacy Trail references its past as the area's railroad corridor. The trail's milepost numbers (numbered 885–902) correspond to the railroad's original mile numbering. Original

trestle bridge A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames usually carrying a railroad line. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a st ...

crossings remain at South Creek (near Oscar Scherer State Park), Phillippi Creek, and a creek near Beneva Road. Information plaques are placed along the trail detailing the history of the railroad corridor. Roadway crossings on the original segment include decorative railroad crossing signals with

crossbuck A crossbuck is a traffic sign used to indicate a level railway crossing. It is composed of two slats of wood or metal of equal length, fastened together on a pole in a saltire formation (resembling the letter X). Crossbucks are often supplem ...

s reading ''Sarasota Rail Trail''.

North Port Connector

A separate trail connects the Legacy Trail to North Port in southern

Sarasota County Sarasota County is a county located in Southwest Florida. At the 2020 US census, the population was 434,006. Its county seat is Sarasota and its largest city is North Port. Sarasota County is part of the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota, F ...

. The North Port Connector runs for 5.5 miles and begins at Price Boulevard in North Port. It heads north through

Deer Prairie Creek Preserve Deer Prairie Creek Preserve is a natural area with of trail in unincorporated Sarasota County, Florida, USA, around along the Myakka River. History The land was acquired between 2000 and 2004 through a partnership between Sarasota County’s ...

before turning west and paralleling

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

for over almost four miles. The North Port Connector ends at Forbes Trail and from here, trail users use surface streets and roads (South Moon Drive, Border Road, Edmondson Road, and Florence Street) to access the main Legacy Trail. Florence Street connects to the main Legacy Trail at Nokomis Riverview Park.

History

The railroad line from School Avenue (on the trail's spur) to a point near Beneva Road was initially built in 1903 by

(via their Florida West Shore Railway subsidiary) and was extended south from there to Venice in 1911. Track from Shade Avenue north to Fruitville Road was built in 1927 by the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...

(via their

Tampa Southern Railroad The Tampa Southern Railroad was a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) originally running from Uceta Yard in Tampa south to Palmetto, Bradenton, and Sarasota with a later extension southeast to Fort Ogden in the Peace River val ...

subsidiary). The Atlantic Coast Line tracks ran directly beside the Seaboard Air Line tracks between Shade Avenue and Beneva Road before the former continued east out of the city. The two parallel railroad lines were consolidated onto the route the trail follows today in 1967 when the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged and became the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

(which later became part of

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

). In Venice, the railroad line was integral to the city's history and benefited the city's economy. The railroad was used by cadets and faculty of the

Kentucky Military Institute The Kentucky Military Institute (KMI) was a military University-preparatory school, preparatory school in Lyndon, Kentucky, and Venice, Florida, in operation from 1845 to 1971. Founding One of the oldest traditional military prep schools in th ...

for winter classes from 1933 to 1970, transported patients to Fred H. Albee's Florida Medical Center from 1932 to 1942, transported goods and servicemen to

Venice Army Air Field Venice Army Airfield is an inactive United States Army Forces base, approximately south-southeast of Venice, Florida. It was active during as a Third Air Force training airfield. It was closed on November 30, 1945. History The story of Veni ...

during , and used by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which was headquartered in Venice from 1959 to 1992. The circus was the last consistent service the rail line carried. Owing to decreased demand for service and the heavily deteriorated condition of the tracks and bridges,

and

, who had been leasing the line from CSX since 1987, came to an agreement with

to abandon the railroad line south of Palmer Ranch. In return, Sarasota County, in conjunction with

The Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

, purchased and acquired the right of way in December 2004 for $11.75 million to use as a public recreational trail. The original segment of Legacy Trail from Venice to Culverhouse Nature Park near Palmer Ranch opened to the public on March 28, 2008. In 2011, a pedestrian overpass was built to carry the trail over the U.S. 41 Venice Bypass, a major six-lane highway. The $3.1 million overpass is tall, spans , and was built with federal stimulus funding. Another

pedestrian overpass A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

constructed by

FDOT The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

over

Laurel Road Laurel Road (formerly known as Darien Rowayton Bank) is an online financial services company headquartered in New York City. Laurel Road was initially founded as the national lending division of Darien Rowayton Bank (DRB) in 2013 and acquired by ...

started construction in November 2017 and was completed in late 2018. In early 2017, Seminole Gulf Railway and CSX announced their intention to abandon an additional of the remaining southern segment of the railroad up to a point just south of Fruitville Road. In December 2017, Sarasota County, in conjunction with

, purchased and acquired of the former railroad corridor right of way for $7.9 million, which extended the county's ownership of the corridor up to Ashton Road, approximately north of Clark Road. In November 2018, Sarasota County voters approved a referendum to acquire and improve of the former railroad corridor, extending the trail and constructing the North Port Connector. By early 2020, Seminole Gulf removed tracks and signals from the corridor, and construction for the trail expansion started shortly after. The first segments of the northern extension, which include the segment from the original trail at Culverhouse Nature Park to Sawyer Loop Road and the segment from Ashton Road to Bahia Vista Street, opened on July 8, 2021. The segment from Sawyer Loop Road to Ashton Road opened on October 7, 2021. The final segment from Bahia Vista Street to Fruitville Road opened on March 3, 2022. The North Port Connector opened on September 9, 2022.

Future

The

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

is currently building overpasses for the trail at Clark Road and Bee Ridge Road. They are planned to be completed in 2025. The North Port Connector is planned to be extended south from Price Boulevard south to Warm Mineral Springs with completion planned in the 2030-31 fiscal year. The Legacy Trail is planned to be part of the Florida Gulf Coast Trail, a collection of trails connecting Tampa and Naples.

Gallery

Image:Legacy Trail south end.jpg, Southern terminus near Historic Venice Train Depot Image:Legacy Trail Shelter.JPG, Covered benches called "stations" can be found throughout the trail every few miles Image:Legacy Trail.jpg, Legacy Trail near Nokomis Image:Legacy Trail Dona Bay.jpg, Bridge over Dona Bay

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=inline,title
Friends of The Legacy Trail
nonprofit organization established in 2006 that supports, promotes, enhances, and protects The Legacy Trail
TrailLink profile for Legacy Trail

a
100 Florida Trails
Transportation in Sarasota County, Florida Hiking trails in Florida Rail trails in Florida Bike paths in Florida Seaboard Air Line Railroad Protected areas of Sarasota County, Florida 2004 establishments in Florida Parks in Sarasota County, Florida