By Rachel Kyler

Winding through County Road 30A near dune lakes and coastline, the Walton County bike path is roughly 27 miles long spanning from Bay to Okaloosa County.
“It adds to quality of life,” said Seagrove Beach resident Christian Wagley. “It’s imperative that we keep it safe.”
For the past few years, members of Friends of the Timpochee Trail have been working to maintain county bike paths and some say they are starting to see some progress.
“We’ve seen more progress in the last 120 days than we’ve seen in many years,” said Trail member Dan McClary.
After various complaints, the county has moved forward with multiple projects to enhance the bike paths, including ongoing landscape maintenance and is now looking at a new signage program.
“Right now it’s just a hodgepodge of signs,” said Commissioner Cindy Meadows.
Meadows explained that county will place kiosks that will include maps, rules and things of interest along the trail. Additional signs will identify potential hazards such as hidden driveways and crosswalks.
All of the signs will be designed to blend in with the Tourist Development Council’s current signage along 30A.
“It’s just going to really identify one of the resources we have,” Meadows said.
Wagley believes the path has improved in the past couple months, but said there a number of issues that need to be addressed, such as sprinklers on the path.
McClary said there are a few developers the group considers “slow learners,” but that the county is “engaging them and monitoring the issues” identifi ed for safety improvements along the bike paths.
Wagley encourages local riders to keep their eyes open for potential dangers.
“We consider the county employees to be partners in this effort. We ride and run the path daily so we see the progress being made,” Mc-Clary said.