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In honor of National Trails Month, we spoke with Maggie Ardito, President, Co-founder, and Director of the St Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance to discuss the organization and the Loop. Here is what she had to say:
Q: How did the St Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance get started?
A: The organization was established in July of 2016, shortly after the St Johns River-to-Sea Loop was designated one of the two Top-Priority Florida SUN Trails. I registered it with the state of Florida. I had been working with Herb Hiller in support of his role with the East Coast Greenway Alliance and he knew he would be leaving that organization so it made sense to work together on a new non-profit. Herb has since retired from active advocacy and moved to the Atlanta area.
Q: What is the Loop, what area does it cover and how far from completion is it? St Johns River-to-Sea Loop Maps
A: The Loop is a 260-mile paved, multiuse trail and an important part of the SUN Trail network. The SUN Trail network is FDOT’s refined version of the paved component of the Florida Greenways and Trails System Priority Land Trail Network. Acquisition and actual trail construction are mostly funded by FDOT; the only exceptions are within municipalities and if FDOT’s PD&E process is unable to design a route where acquisition can be accomplished with willing sellers. FDOT is not legally able to invoke eminent domain for trail construction. Counties are responsible for maintenance and trail amenities.
The Loop follows the same path as our sister trail, the Coast to Coast, from Titusville to DeBary, where the two split. The Coast to Coast Trail runs southwest to St. Petersburg while the Loop continues north to Palatka, then east to St. Augustine, and back south to close the Loop at Titusville. It’s now slightly more than 50% complete with the most completed miles being in Volusia County. FDOT has not committed to a target completion date.
Q: As President, Co-Founder and Director of the St Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance, can you tell me what the mission, goals and strategy are for the organization?
A: Our mission is to advance, advocate, support, promote and protect the Loop and connecting trails and community connections, and to increase active, equitable mobility in the region for all ages and abilities. We are fortunate to have a strong and active board of directors that includes Pat Northey, Dr. Jason Aufdenberg, Dr. Wendy Anderson, Jerry Mayes, Mark Palmucci and others.
In addition to doing all we can to advance trail completions, our goals include the following:
- Increase the number of people regularly and safely riding bicycles and walking, and to replace car trips with active transportation.
- Reduce the rate of crashes involving people walking and biking.
- Promote broad public support and develop strong community leadership for safe bicycling and walking while building broad partnerships to ensure comprehensive approaches to improving our region.
- Increase low-stress bikeways, bicycles network connections and bikeway integration with transit and walking networks.
- Advocate to ensure bicycling and walking investments and resources for improvement are prioritized based on need and equity.
Beginning closest to our home base in Volusia and Flagler counties, our strategy is:
- Education - to educate the community on safe cycling and the need for bike-friendly infrastructure, policy and culture. Educate community leaders about the benefits of cycling and active mobility for everyone, and their role in supporting and increasing it.
- Advocacy - to build public support through grassroots organizing, events and community dialogue to ensure elected officials and decision-makers prioritize safe and accessible active mobility.
- Community - we help people discover the joy of cycling and the benefits of trails and bike-friendly infrastructure through community events and social activities. More people riding bikes and walking increases safe behavior on our streets and bikeways and adds to our momentum of becoming a great cycling and outdoor activity region. We present a number of bike rides, ribbon cuttings, presentations and social events each year.
Q: How is the Alliance working to achieve the mission, goals and strategy?
A: We now have two of our board members also serving on the River to Sea TPO Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and look forward to working closely toward mutual goals. We would love to encourage more TPO committee members to become active in our organization. One project we are working on is to organize an Active Mobility Workshop in the fall. One objective of that is to lay the groundwork for an active mobility network that will connect regional trails, transit and other important destinations which will allow more car trips to be replaced with active transportation like cycling or alternate transportation such as transit.
We also have a number of major events every year and many seminars and presentations that educate people on our world-class trails and the value and benefits of cycling and active mobility.
Q: What is next for the St Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance and the Loop?
A: We are in the process of completely redesigning our website to be more aligned with our expanded goals and strategy. We hope to launch the modernized version this summer. In keeping with our strategy to expand activities in Volusia and Flagler, we will be seeking more board members and volunteers in this region. Our website will remain at the same web address at https://sjr2c.org/.
To accomplish our goals, we know we need to increase our capacity through fundraising to generate the human and financial resources to implement our strategy. We will continue to expand our Trail Alliance Partner Program for government, businesses and organization and our Trail Alliance Friends Program for individuals and families. We’ll also be applying for more grants for related projects that support our mission, like the two sign kiosks we've done and our “Lost History Project" which highlighted African and Native American history that is accessible on foot or bike from our trails.
Q: What else would you like to let our readers know about the St Johns River-to-Sea Loop Alliance and the Loop that they may not already know?
A: We are always looking for volunteers – not just temporary volunteers for events but also "Ambassadors" to help spread the word, "Correspondents" to keep current on what’s happening and what needs fixing, and general "Advisors" to work with us on strategic planning and implementation. We also invite businesses and government agencies to join our Trail Alliance Partner Program and individuals and families to join our Trail Alliance Friends Program.
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