Alachua County to receive $13M for completion of Archer Braid Trail

Press release from Alachua County
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Alachua County is proud to announce that it will receive $13.1 million from the state of Florida to help complete the final connection of the Archer Braid Trail.
Thanks to this grant, the soon-to-be-completed trail will stretch nearly 10 miles long and run from Southwest 91st Street to UF Health Shands Hospital.
The 1.67-mile Kanapaha addition – from Veteran’s Memorial Park to Celebration Pointe – will connect the two previously completed portions of the trail. It also offers a connection to the Archer Road Corridor, which extends an extra 6 miles into the city of Archer.
“This is a big deal,” said County Commission Chair Mary Alford. “It means so much to be able to sign the paperwork to secure this critical funding that will allow people to access this great trail both for recreation and to commute from southwest Alachua County to the UF campus more safely.”
View the Archer Braid Trail map.
The latest state funding comes in the form of a $10.67 million SUN Trail grant from the Florida Department of Transportation and a $2.5 million legislative appropriation and will enhance local and regional connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists in the region.
The Archer Braid Trail has been categorized as a priority trail by the Florida Greenways and Trails Council and is part of the county’s Bicycle Master Plan and Comprehensive Plan. It contributes to a network of 97 miles of interconnection SUN trail projects throughout Alachua County, which include Newberry and Hawthorne.
“We are so excited to complete this project for our residents in Alachua County,” said Alison Moss, the county’s transportation planning manager. “We believe this project will be transformative, providing opportunities for sustainable transportation and recreation, spurring economic development and educational opportunities, all the while enhancing equity and quality of life throughout the county.”
Forget trail expansion. Pave the roads.
People commute from Haile on congested Archer Road in vehicles, AND on bikes. More will ride their bikes if there is a safer way to do it. This bucket of money awarded to the Archer Braid Trail was going to go towards **completing a paved trail** somewhere in Florida. It’s a win-win for the cyclists/pedestrians/runners AND the vehicles, because it gets the vulnerable people on foot and on bikes AWAY from Archer Rd./24. I know Alachua County needs to expand and maintain its roads, and share your frustration, but this is not a culprit, unless you want to blame the governor and legislature, who might just want Florida to NO LONGER be # 1 in pedestrian and cyclist deaths, and might want to attract more tourists, and might want to help Floridians be more healthy, less obese, etc.
The government better exercise some oversight. Given this Commission’s history, they’ll reallocate, redistribute, or just outright spend the funds on a discriminatory project so they can feel better.
Transformative? How about the County invest in the vehicle front end alignment business?
With all the potholes, they could balance the budget.
$13 million for 1 and 2/3 miles, sounds kinda expensive to me, especially since there’s already a bike path down Archer Rd.
They are obsessed with squandering money on anything related to Celebration Pointe, including this project. The nepotism is astounding.
That money was from the state! Thank you Governor Desantis for making Alachua county nicer!
Yeah…we got a nice bum trail for the vagrants to camp along…
Tax money exists to enrich Celebration Pointe. It is necessary for the taxpayers (that’s you) to bail out the bankrupt failed business. That is the way it is.
This money was designated to be awarded to completing paved trails that are incomplete now. This money was NOT going toward roads and diverted to the trail. It was our trail or some other trail somewhere else in Florida. This really is a good thing for our area. It can improve safety and overall physical health in residents who live nearby and want to use it to commute, get/stay in shape or have fun. Yes, I am a cyclist, (and a driver who puts about 18,000 miles on my CR-V every year,) but I am unlikely to ride this section of new trail on my bike when it gets completed more than once. I might never ride it, actually. I live in the NW side of town, and ride on unpaved roads and trails and paved trails primarily. This short trail along Archer Rd. is not a favorite of mine. I might ride it when the wildflowers are in bloom, but probably from Haile to Archer, not towards Gainesville… It doesn’t benefit me personally, but it might save some other cyclists’ or pedestrians’ lives, or keep them from serious injury. It might even help the commuters who drive Archer Rd./SR-24 every day, because cyclists and walkers and runners will be on the trail instead of on the shoulder of the road…