Sadly we left on Saturday to come back home from our annual family trip and as usual I am depressed
.I have a question tho that someone local maybe able to answer.We of course used the trail quite a bit both walking early and bikeing in the evenings and noticed alot of what we refer to as serious bikers not using the trail just flying down 30A,some being passed REALLY close to by traffic.Are these riders supposed to be on the hwy and if so have any of them been injured by traffic? We always ride on our side single file as we have a tandem bike for our SIL/GSON and don't want any accidents.A couple evenings we were shoved off by some of the bikers pulling grocerys behind them about 2-3 bikes wide.Oh well if that was our only problem to worry about:roll:! We have been coming to the area for over 20 yrs and shoved off or not we can't wait to return to paradise.
Yes, the road is legal for cyclists. There are actually share the road signs posted.
Personally, I use both the road and the path. Road through Seaside, Seagrove Beach, Watercolor, portions of Seacrest and Rosemary Beach where there is a higher density of joggers and cyclists clogging the path, and where motorists tend to stop only AFTER crossing the bike path from the numerous cross streets and driveways. In these areas the speed limit on the road is lower and often I can keep up with motor vehicle traffic. Include the area east of Santa Rosa Beach where 30A is wider and provides a good line of site.
But, in the summer I am out at sunrise and traffic is generally light. Over the last 8 years I have noticed increased bicycle traffic on the path and the road. As already mentioned, too many drivers are aggressive or distracted. Unfortunately, I feel safer commuting by bicycle through the streets of Manhattan than on or off the road on 30A.
There are some great paths in Panama City. Along Route 79 and a path that crosses 79 and accesses the conversation center. If you are staying on the West end of 30A it's not a bad ride along the Panama City Beach to 79, if it's not spring break.
See this article: www.newsherald.com
A fresh 22-mile system of walking and biking trails will open this year at the new Panama City Beach Conservation Park, but similar exercise paths exist in town with plans to link the parts together into a whole.
Affectionately called “Gayle’s Trails” after Panama City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst, the system includes the walking paths at Aaron Bessant Park and Frank Brown Park, as well as stretches of Power Line Road, North Gulf Boulevard and State 79, Oberst said Friday.
At some point in the future, “long after I’m gone,” Oberst said, the hope is that an unbroken system will stretch from the Walton County line to St. Andrews State Park.
During recent Bay County Tourist Development Council discussions about enhancing the concert facilities at Aaron Bessant Park, Oberst, who sits on the board, was assured at her insistence that the park’s system of trails would not be harmed.
“We don’t want to do anything to those trails,” she said.
Future plans could include linking Frank Brown Park and Aaron Bessant Park with a walkway over Back Beach Road (U.S. 98), plans that originally fell through when private landowner St. Joe Co. balked at the idea, she said.
Oberst, who often talks about the importance of the city’s walking trails for local residents, said proposals call for linking the paths at Frank Brown Park north to Power Line Road. Power Line Road would link Colony Club with a path that stretches along State 79 north to the B.V. Buchanan Bridge at West Bay.
The 22 miles at the new conservation park west of State 79, into which the city’s excess treated wastewater now flows, would link up with Power Line Road east of the four-lane state roadway.
Oberst said plans call for a blinking light at that intersection and enhanced landscaping and vegetation on the median. Bikers could push a button to turn the blinking yellow light to red, she said.
The move toward more pedestrian-friendly areas in the city is also one of the guiding principals behind the roadway plans of Panama City Beach’s Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), with its push to remold roadways such as Richard Jackson Boulevard and Front Beach Road into areas more accessible to walkers and bikers.
