• Tiger VII Application (PDF)
• Tiger VII Application
  • Project_Description
  • Project_Themes
  • Project_Location
  • Project_Parties
  • Grant_Funds
  • Primary_Selection_Criteria
  • Quality_of_Life
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Safety
  • Secondary_Selection_Criteria
  • Benefit-Cost_Analysis
  • Project_Readiness
  • Project_Schedule
  • Appendices
  • 2015 Tiger VII PreApp
• Pinellas Trail Loop maps
• Trail Awards
• Home

Environmental Sustainability

Avoiding Adverse Environmental Impacts On Air Quality

The health benefits provided by Completing the Pinellas Trail Loop cannot be understated. Completing the Pinellas Trail Loop will provide people with a strong alternative to their vehicles, reducing congestion, improving air quality through reduced vehicle emissions, and improving the health of Trail users.

Sustainability balances the competing economic, social and environmental needs of a community. Completing the Pinellas Trail Loop will foster a more environmentally sustainable transportation option, because by offering residents and visitors multiple viable and attractive transportation options, the number of vehicle trips will be reduced. More energy efficient transportation modes, such as bicycling and walking, which also connect to the PSTA transit system, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of non-renewable energy sources.

Best estimates from the benefit cost analysis include reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by 51,646 in the North Gap and 50,148 in the South Gap. This is a result of more than 5,600 vehicles being replaced by new pedestrians and bicyclists.

The transportation sector is one of the primary contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. By providing trail facilities that encourage and support the use of alternative forms of transportation, Pinellas County and the MPO aim to remove vehicles from the roadway, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality in the region. Pinellas County is part of a regional airshed for the purposes of determining compliance with the ozone standard. While the region is currently in attainment, any tightening in ozone emission standards, as is currently being discussed, is likely to put the region into nonattainment status and require conformity.

Completing the Pinellas Trail Loop will help keep ozone emissions from rising and provide a significant benefit for the environmental sustainability of the entire region. Based on the most recent Pinellas Trail Users Survey, 78% use the Pinellas Trail for non-recreational reasons, resulting in fewer vehicle miles traveled on the surrounding surface roads.

Best estimates predict savings of over $752,000 due to reduced emissions.

If results from existing segments of the Pinellas Trail Loop are replicated by Completing the Pinellas Trail Loop, the number of commuters will be much higher. Keeping these cyclists and pedestrians out of cars and off of the roads will improve travel time on the surrounding road network, lower greenhouse gas emissions and provide a significant benefit to the environment.Current infrastructure will also be sustained over a longer period of time.

As a coastal community, Pinellas County is aware of the potential effects of climate change, including sea level rise.The alignments for the North Gap and South Gap were evaluated using the sea level rise projections contained in the FDOT’s Sketch Planning Tool. The analysis concluded that no impacts to these segments are anticipated through 2100 using the United States Army Corps of Engineer’s high curve. The Loop will be resilient and provide a key non-motorized connection that will help to mitigate the effects of climate change on the community.

Transportation system safety is a vital component of livable communities. As Florida’s most densely populated county and with a roadway network that is substantially built-out, safely accommodating all modes of travel has become increasingly complex in Pinellas County.