A walker strolls over part of the 1.3-mile LaVilla Link, just after it officially opened Monday, May 6, as the first leg of the planned 34-mile-long Emerald Trail in Jacksonville. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on May 6, 2024 at 2:55 pm
A painted green line runs on wide, new sidewalks from the Park Street bridge over McCoys Creek next to the Prime Osborn Convention Center.
Designated the LaVilla Link, the 1.3-mile-long path is the first part of the planned 30-mile Emerald Trail, which eventually will connect 14 historic urban neighborhoods to Downtown, the St. Johns River, McCoys Creek and Hogans Creek.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The new route — with green-striped crosswalks, safety walls and landscaping separating traffic from bicyclists, joggers and walkers — runs from LaVilla to the existing S-line Rail Trail at State Street.
Officials opened the link Monday, calling it a milestone and a learning experience.
“There’s a lot of learning for the first trail segment that you are constructing — a lot of learning,” said Kay Ehas, CEO of the 10-year-old Groundwork Jacksonville, which spearheads the trail. “How to manage construction; how to make sure that before you bid a project. You have crossed all your ‘t’s’ and dotted all your ‘i’s’ on the design.”
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The 14-foot-wide concrete pedestrian-bicycle trail is landscaped along much of its path, with protected bicycle lanes and special traffic signals that aid cycling. Jose Santiago, ride director for the North Florida Bicycle Club, was at a ribbon-cutting Monday with bicycle and helmet, ready to ride.
“This is great for the community, for the city of Jacksonville and for those in nearby cities to come and feel safe, off the roads on their bikes, and run or bike it,” Santiago said. “I feel it’s great, and a great start for the city of Jacksonville. We have some ride around here which we call the In-Towners, and we start around this area.”
Ground was broken in August 2021 on this first link of the trail, which was inspired a century ago by local architect Henry Klutho’s idea for the Emerald Necklace, a ring of parks, trails, greenspace and creeks across Downtown. City Council adopted Groundworks Jacksonville’s master plan in early 2019.
Calling herself picky and a perfectionist, Ehas said the first segment “looks fabulous, and it will only look better as the plants and trees grow in.” Before she helped cut the ribbon, Mayor Donna Deegan said the first segment will show what a “shining jewel” the Emerald Trail will be for the city.
“With the opening of the LaVilla Link … we now have the model project,” Deegan said. “In other words, this link will allow residents near the trail and throughout the region to envision what the 30-mile Emerald Trail system will offer once all of it is complete. Picture a stunning greenbelt that features native plants, living shorelines and rain gardens, not to mention public art installations that celebrate each neighborhood’s rich history and culture.”
City Council earmarked $132 million from the local option gas tax to build the Emerald Trail, with corporate donors like Baptist Health, VyStar Credit Union, the Pajcic family and Brightway Insurance pledging hundreds of thousands more. A $147 million Neighborhood Access & Equity Program Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will fund the construction of the five remaining trail segments.
“That money will be enough, between the gas tax and grant, to get those five segments done,” Ehas said.
The new LaVilla trail starts just south of Hogans Creek at Stonewall Street in Brooklyn, then a wide bicycle and walking trail crosses the Park Street bridge. Two of its northbound lanes are repurposed for the pedestrian path separated from runners and cyclists. A shaded section atop it allows people to watch the creek, and its blank concrete wall will soon bear a mural, Ehas said.
“It will stretch the entire span on both sides of the trail,” she said. “Community input defined the mural’s theme, which will highlight the past, present and future of LaVilla and the Brooklyn neighborhood. Following soon will be murals at the Church Street-I-95 overpass.”
While the trail is open, work is still continuing on various parts along it.
The Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park honors James Weldon Johnson, who wrote the song in 1900 with brother John Rosamond Johnson at their home in the LaVilla neighborhood. Often referred to as “The Black National Anthem,” it is two blocks north of the convention center.
Workers on Monday were putting finishing touches on the park wall, which reads “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” in white stone letters. A classic shotgun house also sits at the park, which is set to open by late summer, Ehas said.
“It is an existing shotgun house that was located in LaVilla, and it is supposed to represent the Johnson brothers home,” she said. “That is where it was situated, but their home was actually two-story.”
Other parts of the LaVilla Link include a boardwalk at the LaVilla Pond between Monroe and Duval streets, with a seating platform overlooking aquatic-wetland plants and grasses along the bank. As the trail heads west along Church Street, a butterfly garden sponsored by the Late Bloomers Garden Club is part of the route, as is an upgraded Florida C. Dwight Memorial Playground at Eaverson Street.
The next Emerald Trail segment will be along North Hogan Street, estimated to cost $7.9 million. It includes a raised two-way bicycle lane from West Water Street north to West Union Street with landscaped buffer, pedestrian lights, signs and bicycle signals at each intersection.
“McCoys Creek is under construction right now. Hogan Street will be under construction later this summer,” Ehas said. “That goes through the heart of Downtown and will connect to Hogan’s Creek. Hogans Creek is under design, and we are designing Segment Three, which is the Riverside link , which will connect to McCoy’s Creek. And then we have a whole lot of work to do to get those five done by the end of the grant in 2031.”
