The Waldo Road Greenway - Depot Avenue Rail-Trail - and Kermit Sigmon Bike Trail are seamlessly connected as part of Gainesville's ever-expanding rail-trail network, offering users three trails in one. Together, they comprise a 6.7-mile path that links neighborhoods, businesses, transit stops, a private aviation terminal and the University of Florida campus. At SW Depot Avenue and S. Main Street/SR 329, the trail connects with the scenic
Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail. While there are no formal trailheads or parking areas, you can access the route from a number of road crossings. (The Gainesville Depot is being restored to serve as a formal trailhead.)
At the north end the Waldo Road Greenway is particularly well landscaped and passes numerous public transportation connections. Be aware that the trail narrows at intersections and at a couple of the transit stops. The Depot Avenue Rail-Trail picks up just beyond 2 miles from the Waldo Road/University Avenue intersection. Threading through neighborhoods and industrial areas, it never loses its community essence. Be sure to check out the colorful murals on the 13th Street trestle, a relic from the rail line that once crossed the state from Fernandina Beach on the Atlantic to Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico.
Across the trestle, you'll join the Kermit Sigmon Bike Trail. Named for a local mathematics professor and great bicycling advocate, the trail leads west past both Shands and Veterans hospitals, and hospital employees use it as a commuter corridor. Although the route continues another 2 miles west, it's probably best to end your trip here; the Archer Road crossing poses a significant hazard, and its narrow sidewalk flanks the wrong side of the road for westbound cyclists.
The route offers numerous access points, particularly along Waldo and Archer roads, where the trail intersects with SW 13th and South Main streets, and on several side streets.
For more information, contact:
200 East University Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32601
352-334-5000
The trail does connect to the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail. Just go from 34th and Archer east and cross Williston Rd.
It would be great if this trail continued north past the airport to Waldo. It could be a connector between the Gainesville Hawthorne Trail and (nearly) the Lake Butler Palatka Trail, not to mention it would make commutes along Waldo Road and it's 65 mph ...
Will this ever be extended into a Gainesville - Waldo Trail??