On Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., St. Lucie County Commissioners will join the city of Fort Pierce and its partners to mark the completion of the Indian Hills Recreation Area SUN Trail with a ribbon-cutting ceremony near the trail's midpoint, 52 Savannah Road, in Fort Pierce.
The opening celebrates the creation of a north-south, multi-purpose trail through the recreation area from the Indian Hills Golf Course to the south of Savannah Road. This piece of a 26-mile SUN Trail planned in St. Lucie County establishes a segment of the East Coast Greenway from North Hutchinson Island to Jensen Beach. This joint project, valued at more than $579,000, is a product of a collaboration between the Florida Department of Transportation, St. Lucie County, St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization, and the City of Fort Pierce.
For this section of the trail, Kimley Horn and Associates provided the design, and PRP Construction Group, LLC, of Indiantown, was the contractor.
The East Coast Greenway is a multi-purpose path that connects 15 states and 450 cities and towns for 3,000 miles from Maine to Florida. Currently, there are four completed East Coast Greenway segments within St. Lucie County: North Hutchinson Island along North A1A, Indian Hills Recreation Area, a portion of the Savannas Recreation Area, and along Green River Parkway in Port St. Lucie. By 2026, the Shared-Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail Program and the Florida Department of Transportation will have invested more than $20 million toward completing the Statewide SUN Trail Network and the East Coast Greenway throughout St. Lucie County.
The SUN Trail Program was established during the 2015 legislative session allocating $25 million per year for the development of a state-wide paved trail system for bicyclists and pedestrians. Presently, the SUN Trail includes a combination of existing, planned, and conceptual multi-use trails. It is a refined version of the Florida Greenways and Trails System (FGTS) Plan's Land Trails Priority Network.
The Indian Hills Recreation Area is a stormwater treatment facility designed for a 1,242-acre watershed that features passive recreation including a walking trail and exercise stations.
