Notice the waterfront road around you, Bayshore Boulevard on Hillsborough Bay in South Tampa, just south of downtown Tampa. Beneath your feet is a 4.5-mile, 10-foot-wide sidewalk — the second longest continuous sidewalk in the United States, after Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, Texas. Alongside it runs a 3-mile bike lane, a linear park and the Bayshore Greenway Trail, all offering scenic views of urban Tampa and the water.
Look around and you’ll see the sidewalk’s conveniences: benches, a water fountain, bicycle parking, a city marina, and workout stations placed for passing walkers and cyclists. This is a place of everyday life and, at times, hard memories. In June 2003 bicyclist Ian Bellis was killed near the Davis Islands on-ramp when a Chevrolet Impala jumped the curb at about 40 mph.
In February 2004 a speeding motorcyclist collided with a jogger crossing the boulevard; the victim, 39-year-old Melissa McKenzie, was pronounced dead at the scene. The motorcyclist, 35-year-old William Napier, was estimated to be traveling 80 mph, ultimately pled guilty to vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation. The bay stretches out, the long sidewalk hugging the water for your next mile.