Peterson Road: The Missing Piece To The Upper Tampa Bay Trail Extension?

Westchase Patch reported yesterday that a little more than over next year. The expansion would take the trail from Van Dyke Road (just east of Gunn Highway) through the Booker Creek Preserve and wind down Lutz Lake Fern Road, ending at the Suncoast Parkway.

In total the trail would be 11.35 miles, but there is a gap between Peterson Road and Van Dyke Road. The stretch of land connects the existing trail with the new addition.

Some of our readers on Facebook questioned why the county didn't include this in its expansion.

County Project Manager Richard Sanders had to say this about it:

"We’re still working on that as a whole project," he said. "It's just one of those things where we got the property plus we had the preserve already.

"It was easier to do this piece at this time. Now once this gets going, that extra piece is the top priority in the county for trail projects."

So what do you think? Will it make it less appealing to use the trail expansion without Peterson Road's inclusion? Tell us in the comments.