As Palm Coast continues to broaden its crown-jewel-like trail system, the city has finally secured federal aid money to design the long-planned segment from Graham Swamp to Lehigh Trail–a plan 15 years in the works. But construction money remains elusive, so it may be a while yet before hikers are able to trek the entire distance from the Woodlands to Bulow Park several miles south, where another trail is under design.
The new trail segment will extend from the trailhead on Old Kings Road down south, behind the Toscana and Hidden Lakes subdivisions, to connect with the Lehigh trail and the newly completed extension from there to State Road 100.
When the metal-tented pedestrian bridge over State Road 100 opened 14 months ago, it was touted as the temporary end point of the middle segment of the Graham Swamp trail completed just then. That 2-mile segment starts at the Lehigh Trail off Old Kings Road, parallel to Town Center Boulevard. The trail about to be designed will close the 3.5-mile gap.
Once completed, the Graham Swamp Trail will have connected both the southern segment that goes to State Road 100–and, in a few years, to Bulow Park–and the Graham Swamp East trail that runs 4 miles north from the swamp’s large pond, south of Palm Coast Parkway, along the southern rim of the Woodlands, and to Colbert lane. (The planned trail from the State Road 100 bridge down to Bulow Park is a $1.5 million project under design.)
If the Graham Swamp trail completed last year is any guide–as it will be for designers–the result will be just as significant an engineering achievement. The new trail that runs to the pedestrian bridge goes through swampland and thick woods, cutting a 12-foot-wide shared use path, with three elevated boardwalks totaling 1,600 feet, and 4,642 feet of handrails.
The segment about to be designed would extend the 12-foot-wide trail in the existing forested area, with signage, pavement, markings, drainage, and elevated boardwalks through wetland areas as necessary. All facilities will be accessible by the disabled. All but $65,000 of the design money is federal aid passed through the state Department of Transportation. As has typically been the case, neither the state nor the city acknowledge the origin of the money, since it is the result of Biden Administration programs. The state has usually masked the aid as its own.
Palm Coast will contribute a 10 percent share through its park impact fees, the one-time levy builders and developers pay to defray the cost of new development’s “impact,” which requires the building of new roads, fire stations, parks and schools. The $65,000 is drawn from the city’s park impact fee. (The current park impact fee is $1,769 for every new single-family house built.
Design work will include a survey, an exploration of any utility lines below the surface, and geotechnical work. There’ll be no need to acquire any additional right of way. The design is to be one-third completed by April, and fully completed by January 2026.
City Manager Lauren Johnston said the city is working with the county to secure Sun Trail grant money under the purview of the state Department of Transportation to pay for construction of the trail. Because it closes gaps in a larger trail system and connects across jurisdictions, the Graham Swamp trail fits numerous criteria to qualify for a grant.
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