Bungalower has learned that the City of Orlando received funding from the Florida Department of Transportation to build a pedestrian bridge over Colonial Drive in-between Orange Ave and I-4.

The bridge has long been discussed as a way to connect the Orlando Urban Trail, which runs through the northern Bungalow neighborhoods to Gertrude’s Walk in downtown.

The Urban Trail [Map] currently starts  north of Loch Haven Park on Mills Ave and runs down Mills, behind Mills Park, across Virginia Ave and then passes around Lake Highland to end near Magnolia Ave and Orange Ave.

The new bridge would start at Park Lake St and Orange Ave and take pedestrians or bicyclists west to the railroad tracks and then up and over Colonial Drive, dropping them back at Concord St a block before the Lynx and SunRail station.

Lynx has committed to finishing Gertrude’s walk where the bridge leaves off. This would connect it to the current Gertrude’s walk that starts at Washington St and runs to South St.

The three-block connection in the North Quarter between the start of the pedestrian bridge and the Urban Trail has been proposed, but there currently isn’t any funding allocated.

Funding for construction of the pedestrian bridge over Colonial Drive is part of FDOT’s 2015/16 fiscal year.

A spokesperson for the City of Orlando tells Bungalower that “design and construction for similar projects have taken up to 1 1/2 years to complete. We are closely coordinating the trail bridge’s schedule with FDOT’s other projects (Ultimate I-4) and SunRail.”

Designs for the bridge are not complete yet.

Here’s a look at the trail map that shows how the new pedestrian bridge will connect to the existing trails (click image to download):Orlando Urban Trail - Pedestrian Bridge

 

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  1. BrendaHill  Fixed the link. Thanks. Unfortunately when the City redesigned their website they didn’t redirect their links…so all links to the city’s website broke 🙁

  2. Yessssss thank you for this!!!!! I feel so alienated not being able to cross Colonial without risking being hit by a car! I’m always saying “why do we not have a pedestrian bridge!?!?!”