sandy, rutted road that was a danger to bicycle riders and skaters has been paved, and other safety enhancements made to the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail State Park just in time for a month of activities celebrating Florida's state parks.

The 15-mile trail, which starts at Boulware Springs in southeast Gainesville and ends in Hawthorne, is one of the most popular rail conversions in the state. It draws more than 5,000 users a month, primarily bike riders, in-line skaters and runners, and will be the site of special activities Saturday.

Tom Brown, assistant manager of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, which manages the trail, said a key improvement was paving SE 169th Street in Grove Park, where the trail crosses it.

"We poured an entire cement pad across it. It was the worst crossing. It was a real sand pit and that was the one we wanted to address first," Brown said. "It's a matter of safety. Roller-bladers were having a real problem. We're trying to make it a smooth ride all the way."

The work cost about $2,500, Brown said.
May is Florida State Parks Month, and all parks will have special activities.

Among them will be a guided ride of about five miles on the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail Saturday starting at Boulware Springs at 9 a.m., and finishing at 10:30 a.m.

The ride will be led by a ranger who will explain the ecology, history and wildlife of the trail and of Paynes Prairie.

Several other safety improvements have been made in the past few weeks, including additional warnings at road crossings and resurfacing of damaged trail surfaces. Brown said he next plans to pave the crossing of SE 107th Boulevard east of Rochelle.

A number of trail sections have been damaged because of unstable terrain beneath them or because of tree roots. One stretch in particular, around mile marker five, has been repeatedly repaired after faults and separations as deep and wide as two inches developed.

Tom Stevens III is president of the trail's support organization, Friends of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. He said more trail improvements are planned, including paving the crossing of a road at the parking lot of the original trail head about a mile west of Hawthorne.

"The crossing at 169th Street was the worst. It was almost like a Jeep road, and water would flow down it that was constantly gouging out a rut. We had heard stories of cyclists losing it there," Stevens said. "The roots issue is getting worse. I'm not sure what to do about it. The park service's (solution) seems to be to rip it up and redo it. You hate to cut trees, but if you don't you will just be repeating the process in a few years."

Eventually the group would like paved crossings at all four unpaved roads along the trail. The trail also crosses some unpaved driveways to homes, particularly in the Rochelle area, but they are not as dangerous as the roads.

The group will have a work day May 10 to paint warning signs on the trail near some road crossings. Stevens added that the organization is trying to get a University of Florida student as an intern who could help search and apply for grants to pay for some of the work.

Cindy Swirko can be reached at 374-5024 or swirkoc@gvillesun.com.