The Friends of the Legacy Trail (FLT) Chapter seeks to connect the existing trail from its current north end (near Culverhouse Nature Park) to downtown Sarasota – a distance of eight miles.

One can identify many good reasons for this — collateral benefits to health, to social life, to economic growth. See this short video for more.

Linking Venice to Sarasota will create a 30-mile trail that brings safe bicycling to North Sarasota County.

It will also enable further connections — with trails linking Sarasota to Bradenton and beyond, to Temple Terrace, Pinellas Park, and St. Petersburg.

[clearboth]Beyond St. Pete, trails are already coming together that will reach from coast to coast (click pic for larger size).

[clearboth] And there are so many other trails throughout Florida that eventually can  be knitted together.

Ultimately there’s an even larger vision: the East Coast Greenway. It’s a multi-state coordinated effort to create a 3,000-mile trail to connect Maine to Florida:

[clearboth] Such a trail would not be just a single path, like a highway. It would in fact be a connector with 2,000 miles of alternate trails running through key cities, towns, and places of natural beauty. More about that vision here.

The fact is, every time one piece of these trails is completed, another link to a giant chain is added, connecting us to our land and to each other in a mode that promotes health, social well-being, and economic stimulation. Make sense? You can help make it happen — click here to offer your contribution — we’re well on our way to funding the studies needed to make the extension to the Legacy Trail a reality.

You can also print out this letter in support of the extension — sign your name, gather other signatories, and send it to the Sarasota County Board of Commissioners.