Leon County dedicates new bridge in Lake Henrietta Park

The new bridge over Munson Slough in Lake Henrietta Park has been completed for several weeks now, but Leon County made official notice of the opening with a ribbon cutting on Thursday morning, 20 May 2010. County Commission Chairman Bob Rackleff headed up the dignitaries at the event, which seemed to be attended mostly by people with large video cameras. Through it all, people kept using the park for their morning walking or cycling, without giving the ceremony much notice.

The bridge is the last link in a 380-yard trail that connects the city of Tallahassee's Silver Lake Park with Leon County's Lake Henrietta Park. The trail is a path lined with crushed oyster shell running along a creek, the East Drainage Ditch. (Someone really needs to come up with a better name for that.) Turning to follow Munson Slough, the trail mounts a ramp of planks made from recycled plastic. Another turn takes the trail over the slough on the actual bridge, a sturdy affair of concrete and steel. Whoever engineered it must expect our national obesity crisis to get worse before it gets better. Once across the bridge, you are on the Lake Henrietta Trail, a 6600-foot loop around Lake Henrietta.

Lake Henrietta Park and the new connector trail are part of the Capital Cascades Greenway, which combines upgrading stormwater management with building new recreational facilities. Speakers at the ribbon cutting also said that the Lake Henrietta Trail will connect with the Tallahassee-St Marks Historic Rail Trail via the Dr. Charles Billings Greenway. For more than a few years, the Billings Greenway has been one of those trails that people like to include in reports and articles, but is very difficult to walk or run or bike because it doesn't exist outside of those reports and articles. However, an unpaved trail already connects Lake Henrietta with Lake Munson. In spite of my impatience, the community's network of trails continues to grow.

Links:

• My photos of the ribbon cutting
  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2854823&id=5215641&l=fd0e29bf9f
  
  
• Lake Henrietta getting a new bridge and access trail
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/03/bridge.html
  
  
• Lake Henrietta Trail
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/01/lake-henrietta-trail.html