Friday, March 14, 2014

Tallahassee's Canopy Walkway makes beautiful connections

Canopy WalkwayI visited the Canopy Walkway on Sunday, 9 March 2014, five days after it opened. The new pedestrian-and-cyclist bridge spans the CSX railroad north of Lake Lafayette, connecting the trails of the city of Tallahassee's Lafayette Heritage Park with the trails of Leon County's Alford Greenway. Judging from the number of people who were also at the bridge that day, it has already become a destination landmark.


Bridges make good destination landmarks. I'm sure that many travelers on Interstate 75 have seen the "Land Bridge" over the highway south of Ocala, Florida, and felt compelled to find the trailhead to check it out. I did twice; once for myself and once to show it off to someone else. Pumpkinvine Trestle on Georgia's Silver Comet Trail is another bridge that I just had to see after reading about it, even though I declined to cross it. And has anyone on Florida's Nature Coast Trail not paused on the bridge over the Suwannee River?


Canopy WalkwayThe Canopy Walkway should also attract people. If they don't come just to see the bridge itself, they'll come for the spectacular views of Lake Lafayette from the walkway. It's a shame that the Sunset Limited is no longer running, because I can imagine Amtrak passengers stopping in Tallahassee just to get a closer look at the bridge that they saw over the tracks. As it is, people on the Lafayette Heritage Trail on the south side of Lake Lafayette can look north across the water and see the walkway disappearing into the treetops. They might hike, or run, or bicycle a little bit farther to check out the bridge. Paddlers on the lake might return on foot to see the bridge that they caught glimpses of from the water.


Canopy WalkwayThe structure you'll see at the Canopy Walkway is described in a City of Tallahassee press release:
The southern walkway spans 585 feet and rises up about 40 feet to meet the bridge. After crossing the 133-foot bridge, the northern walkway takes visitors 130 feet back down to solid ground.
Which gives you a total of 848 feet of boards to traverse to get from the ground on one side of the tracks to the ground on the other side. Everything is wood except for the span itself, which is steel. The bridge is covered; the walkways are not. At the top of the southern walkway you're at the same level as the treetops of the oaks lining the shore of Lake Lafayette, and you have a great view of the lake.


Canopy WalkwayIf you want to make the Canopy Walkway your destination, go to either Lafayette Heritage Trail Park at the east end of Heritage Park Boulevard, or the Alford Greenway parking area at the south end of Pedrick Road. From Lafayette Heritage Trail Park, you'll need to go east (on foot or bicycle) on the path along the lake till you get to the impoundment dike. Follow the path along the top of the dike to the north shore of the lake and the Canopy Walkway. From the parking lot to the Walkway is just over a mile and a quarter, depending a lot on where you start in the parking lot. For a shorter route, start from the Alford Greenway parking lot. After leaving your car there, you'll have only have to go about a quarter mile southwest to get to the Canopy Walkway. Access there is a road, really; cut through the woods so construction equipment could get to the bridge.


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Posted by Herb Wills at 1:28 AM
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