SWFBUD Involved In Trying To Save The Friendship TrailBridge

Please get involved in saving the Friendship TrailBridge, the 2.6-mile old Gandy Bridge that connects Tam,pa and St. Petersburg. A core group of people are working on a business plan to show the economic feasibility of keeping the TrailBridge alive. It has been closed for the past 3 1/2 years for structural problems. The group will make its pitch at a Hillsborough County Commission meeting on May 16.

^ ^ ^

A killer motorist who killed a bicyclisr in a bike lane in St. Petersburg Saturday was charged today with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide. Read about the driver who killed the 40-year-old bicyclist in this Tampa Bay Times story.

And the deadly roads of Tampa Bay claimed another bicyclist Tuesday. This time. a motorist killed a bicyclist in Plant City.


* * *

SWFBUD mourns the death of Bill Sharpe, editor of the South Tampa Comunity News. Bill supported bicycling in Tampa and SWFBUD wrote bike stories for his newspaper to advocate for more bike infrastructure.

If Bill was still around, he would be offering me space to write a story on a core group of people -- SWFBUD included -- that are working on a business plan to save the Friendship TrailBridge. The Hillsborough County wants to demolish and destroy the bridge, but SWFBUD along with others believe there is a way to repair the parts of the bridge that need to be mended while also forming a non-profit fund-raising group to keep the bridge alive. I'll be writing that story and sending it in. I'm sorry Bill you won't be here to see it, but we will carry on in your memory.

Donations may be made to the Bill Sharpe Memorial Trust at any Bank of Tampa branch to keep the Epoch newspaper alive. Bill died April 2.Tampa Bay Times story.


* * *


Why does SWFBUD want more bike lanes and bike trails? Because more people ride bicycles when there are place for them to bike.

Study says that if governments build more bicycle infrastructure more people will bike-commute.