“ It’ s taken 13 years to do all that,” Myers said.“ While I was working on the project, my project manager at FDOT was out on maternity leave at one point. Last year our paths crossed outside of work, and I ran into her at a Florida gymnastics meet, and her daughter is 10 now.”
Myers has worked alongside Amy Williams, project manager at the Florida Department of Transportation( FDOT) for this trail project throughout the entire process.“ Daryl has been a key member for this trail project,” Williams said.“ He’ s been involved since the beginning. It’ s been very helpful to have someone who’ s been there from the get-go and to have that consistency throughout the duration of the project.”
The asphalt trail was constructed along an abandoned railroad right-of-way, with some portions adjacent to city streets and others in wooded areas. Ayres Associates also designed the Armstrong Park Trailhead for St. Johns County, a public facility near the trail that provides a welcome center, restroom facilities, parking lot, and learning / education center. Eventually, the trail will tie into three area trail networks: Palatka to Lake Butler State Trail; St. Johns River to Sea Loop, and East Coast Greenway. Once the Palatka-to-St. Augustine trail is completed, it will be part of the 260 miles of multi-use trails that make up the River to Sea Loop.“ It’ s essentially a network of trails,” Myers said.“ Every segment is one little part of the greater plan.”
This greater plan came to fruition after FDOT decided to replace the abandoned rail corridor, formerly known as the Florida East Coast Railway, with the trail.“ The trail has a great deal of historical significance,” Myers said.
In 1885, Henry Morrison Flagler moved to St. Augustine to build hotels and purchase short line railroads in a region that had been lacking in infrastructure and transportation facilities before then. The outlying farming communities of Hastings and Armstrong were a local source to provide vegetables and other produce. The railroad( that is now the Palatka-to-St. Augustine trail) carried this fresh produce and other goods to and from St. Augustine more than 130 years ago. Interpretive signage along the trail tells the rich history of these communities and how the railroad made their expansion possible.
When the railroad right-of-way was abandoned, FDOT seized the opportunity to purchase the property, recognizing how it could streamline the process for developing a trail replacement.“ The abandoned railroad right-of-way is great for trails – it’ s straight, fairly level, and they don’ t have a lot of obstructions or cross traffic,” Myers said.
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