Fellow cyclists, bikeys, and triathletes (and running friends):

It is unfortunate that the Friendship Trail bridge is closed, cutting off a popular route for cycling between Tampa and St. Pete.  Many of us are now biking across the "automobile" spans of the Gandy since this is the only alternative. Although the breakdown lanes can be used as bike lanes, this is still a higher risk than the old trail bridge. Kelby mentioned it would be nice if there were at least some SHARE THE ROAD signs along the bridge and even on Gandy Blvd.  It would also be nice if they could get a sweeper to clean the debris and glass out of the breakdown lane once or twice a month or more.  To repair the old bridge was going to cost millions of dollars.  However, the ride across the car bridge can be made a lot safer for cyclists for a fraction of the costs by putting up a few signs and doing some periodic sweeping.

 

One way to make this happen (maybe) is to contact our local and state governments' elected officials to let them know our concerns.  Local politicians include the Mayors and City Councils of Tampa and St. Pete, and the County Commissioners of Hillsborough and Pinellas.  State politicians include State Senators and Representatives.  You can contact them via email, US Postal mail, or telephone.  Email is the easiest, cheapest and quickest way, but also carries the least weight.  Still, it can be very effective in a situation like this.  Many politicians representing large metropolitan areas such as the Tampa Bay area may receive hundreds of email messages a week.  Although, they generally don't respond to any of them, they usually have their assistants keep track of the major issues and concerns of the people they respresent.  In other words, if they receive emails from a lot of people (lets say 1,500 people) who ask that something be done for the safety of cyclists on the Gandy, they will pay attention and it will be addressed. 

 

I've compiled some information, links, and contact information below in order to make it easier for everyone to voice your concerns.  The county commissions for both Hillsborough and Pinellas have a simple email form on their web sites that is easy to use.  See the link below.  The Tampa Mayor and City Council also have a web form to contact them.  See links below.  The St. Pete Mayor and Council don't have a web form so you just have to send them a regular email.  Their email adresses are listed.  The easiest thing to do is just send a generic message that you can "copy-paste" and send to all of these people. I put a short sample message below.  Note that Volume = Impact.  To contact all of these government officials is probably 10-20 emails.  If you only have time for one or two, then send it to the Mayors of Tampa and St. Pete.  VOLUME = IMPACT.  If there are only two people who actually speak up, it might as well be zero.  If 300, 400, or a thousand of us say something, who knows? My contact list only includes 85ish people so please forward this to everyone you know who might want to send a word to the Mayors and/or to the other elected officials, such as spouses of cyclists, friends, "activists", etc...even if they don't ride a bike, they can still voice their concerns for the rest of us.  Be safe,

 

Pinellas County Commissioners contact form:

 Senators:

Arthenia L. Joyner, District 18 (Democrat)  

Email:  joyner.arthenia.web@flsenate.gov

 District Office:

508 W. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Suite C
Tampa, FL 33603-3415
(813) 233-4277

Tallahassee Office:
210 Senate Office Building
404 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100

 

District 18 covers Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee County so Arthenia Joyner is the only Senator to contact.

State Representatives: 

The Florida House of Representatives has several districts in the Tampa Bay area. The Gandy Bridge is in District 57 on the Tampa side and in District 52 on the St. Pete side.  It would be good to voice your opinions to both of these people - - all the better if you live in either of these two districts.  The Representative of your district has a job to represent you.  If you don't live in District 52 or 57, then technically, you are not one of their constituents so you should also contact your Representative who represents your and your district.  You can find out what district you are in by looking at your voter ID card or by going to www.votehillsborough.org or by looking at the map at the following:link:

 

Once you find your district, send a message to your State Representative and to the District 57 and 52 Representative.  Their personal page has an email button that opens up a webform, so emailing is quick and easy.