SANFORD, Fla. — The city of Sanford celebrated the official opening of the second phase of the Riverwalk project Thursday.
The latest addition extends the bike and pedestrian trail another 3,000 feet.
Sanford residents Joe Hawkins and Mary-Francis Hawkins head to the Riverwalk almost every day and walk parts of the route that now stretches more than 1 1/2 miles.
"Thank God they've got benches along the water, we can sit down and rest anytime we want to," said Joe Hawkins.
The Riverwalk now ends in front of the hospital. The next phase would extend it to Interstate 4, though some leaders said that will present challenges along State Road 17-92, which runs along the Riverwalk.
"We obviously have to slow the traffic down on this road," Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett said.
The speed limit along the river is 55 mph. Triplett said they are working with the Florida Department of Transportation to redirect some of the traffic onto another road, hoping to make the area along the Riverwalk more safe.
"We're trying to take the road into the city of Sanford so we can slow this traffic down and make State Road 46 the true thoroughfare," Triplett said.
More than $6 million from the Florida Department of Transportation and Seminole County sales tax has gone into the project.
The Riverwalk is part of the city's plan to redevelop several blocks of downtown, all the way to the water.
City and county leaders said they hope the more they extend the project, the more people they can entice to use it.
"This is about healthy lifestyles. This is about something that, obviously with the waterway we have, we've never truly invested in the natural asset that we have," said Triplett.
Triplett also hopes the project will spur development into downtown.
"There are a lot of things happening. It just takes time to get the interest, and get the development up and running," Triplett said.
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