DADE CITY — The east Pasco cities of Zephyrhills and Dade City have grown a little closer, particularly if you're on a bicycle.
Last week, representatives of Pasco County, its Metropolitan Planning Organization, the two cities, the Florida Department of Transportation and other dignitaries snipped the ribbon on a new $2 million multipurpose trail along the west side of U.S. 301. The state paid for construction as part of the resurfacing of U.S. 301. The county will maintain the path.
At 4.5 miles long, the new trail is the longest uninterrupted bicycle and pedestrian path in east Pasco. The paved corridor, measuring 10 feet wide, connects the two cities and serves as a key part of a larger network planned to link the Hillsborough County line south of Zephyrhills to the Withlacoochee State Trail in Trilby.
"That's the whole point,'' said Mark Pinson of Dade City, a member of Pasco County's bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. "You can't get anywhere once you get here.''
Officials, more than a dozen of whom biked to the ribbon-cutting at Centennial Road, lauded the safety, recreation, tourism, economic and health benefits the trail can provide.
"Any time you can get people out exercising, old and young, it's a good thing,'' said Lance Smith, Zephyrhills City Council member and chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The trail, not yet named, is a straight shot along east Pasco's hilly terrain between Kossik Road on the north side of Zephyrhills to Dade City Avenue on the south edge of Dade City.
"I'm jealous of your hills,'' said trail advocate Kathryn Starkey, chairwoman of the Pasco County Commission.
Starkey said the owners of 4-G Ranch in Land O'Lakes had volunteered to donate trees from their tree farm to help provide shade along the route.
The county has put a renewed focus on developing and marketing a network of trails, including the planned Orange Belt Trail along an abandoned railroad line from Trinity to Trilby. Money for the 37-mile path is included in the Penny for Pasco sales tax that voters approved in 2012. Additionally, the county's recently approved three-year strategic plan for tourism calls for spending $1.25 million for way-finding signs and other amenities targeting bicyclists and pedestrians using county trails and $250,000 for a cyclist-friendly visitor center.
The most immediate topic, however, is the new trail along the U.S. 301 corridor. Dade City Mayor Camille Hernandez called it "a celebration of vibrancy.''
Smith, who bicycled to the ceremony from Zephyrhills, offered practical advice to the gathering.
"Use this thing,'' he urged. "And tell people about it.''