News-Press June 14, 2015 Political will is needed to make cycling safer
SWFL communities taking different routes, at different speeds
By Janine Zeitlin and Laura Ruane
Chapter 1: Sanibel
Shared-path
network started with worried moms
Just over 25.
 |
That's total miles in the shared-use
path system on Sanibel Island. The number actually outstrips beachfront — 15.5
miles — on an island renowned for its quality of life for residents and allure
to tourists.
More links are planned, including a
half-mile-long, paved shared-use path to connect Bowman's Beach Park with the
path along Sanibel-Captiva Road.
It's little wonder the League of
American Bicyclists in 2010 named Sanibel the first "bicycle-friendly
community" in Southwest Florida.
The achievements took more than 30
years. And, they started with a small group of worried moms, including Mariel
Goss.
Goss reared four children on the
island, including Sanibel City Councilman Chauncey Goss. She also is married to
Porter Goss, who was Sanibel's first mayor, and who went on to national
political fame.
By the early 1970s, a building boom
enveloped the island. With it came construction dump trucks "zipping down
Periwinkle Way," Mariel Goss said.
"It was pretty dangerous. We
ended up driving (the children) everywhere."
Until the bike path.
The moms formed the Sanibel Bike
Path Committee in 1972. They set out donation jars at island businesses, and
created Sanibel and Captiva phone books, whose sale proceeds went to the cause.
They held a bike rodeo at Bailey's General Store.
To draw attention to the road hazards,
Mariel Goss and more than a dozen other women held a "ride-in,"
pedaling "down the middle of Periwinkle in the middle of the
morning."
The first 2.5 miles of Sanibel's
path along Periwinkle Way was built in 1976, thanks to the private fund-raising
and a state transportation grant.
"The grandchildren – oh, my
gosh: When they come to visit, the paths are fabulous," Mariel Goss
said."I am so pleased. The bike paths have made Sanibel a family
place."
[Note: photos added by BWL, not from News-Press]
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