The next section of the long-anticipated Tampa Riverwalk will begin its last phase of construction next month according the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
Expected to be finished by November 2014, the Kennedy Boulevard Plaza Segment of the Tampa Riverwalk will connect MacDill Park to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, and provide Downtown Tampa residents and visitors alike with 1.8 miles of a continuous, finished Riverwalk.
The new section will span 1,460 feet of water along the Hillsborough River and will run underneath the Kennedy Boulevard Bridge. The rendering [pictured right] shows four shaded gathering areas that are 35 feet wide and between 35 and 75 feet in length, the Journal reports.
On Tuesday, June 4, Mayor Bob Buckhorn will join former Tampa mayors William Poe, Sandra Freedman, Bob Martinez, Dick Greco, and Pam Iorio as well as Federal Highways Administrator Victor Mendez to commemorate the construction at a 10 a.m. ceremony taking place at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.
The Tampa Riverwalk is the culmination of years of work under each of these Tampa mayors. Last November, the prospects of a forever unfinished Riverwalk were all too real as funds from the city became dangerously depleted.
Thanks to a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) IV grant awarded to the city back in June 2012, roughly 70 percent of the approximately $9.2 million price tag was provided to make the Riverwalk's completion a reality.
Once finished, the Tampa Riverwalk will extend 2.6 miles from the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts all the way past the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Channelside.
We'll keep you posted as more news arises.
