The Unknown Florida

One of the few bicycle and pedestrian friendly structures in Tallahassee is the Capital Cascades Trail. I do not know the official definition where the trail starts and ends, but one can make a good argument for the following route starting at the northern end of the St. Marks Trail, right at the roundabout connecting FAMU Way, Gamble Street and Mill Street south of Lake Alberta. From there it goes north-east along FAMU Way, passing by the new Skateable Art Park and the Railroad Square Art District. Then the trail passes Railroad Avenue towards Lake Anita and crosses under the raised South Bronough and Duval Streets. Typically, under-crossings are not very remarkable and the one under Bronough and Duval were no exception. However, that changed in September or October this year. The artist Yasaman Mehrsa from Toronto, Canada, painted a mural on two of the pylons supporting Bronough Street. With the colorful illumination at night those concrete pylons now look remarkable. Public art at work!

Going further east from this underpass the Cascades Trail crosses South Adams and then South Monroe Street into Cascades Park. The bridge over South Monroe Street, which opened in 2016, provides the seamless connection between the western and eastern section of the Cascades Trail. It is actually a visual highlight of the trail, with the unique shape of its columns, the canopy made of solar fabric, and adjustable nighttime lighting. The canopy provides shade during the day and serves as an illuminated screen during the night.

From that bridge the trail goes all the way through Cascades Park towards the Apalachee Parkway underpass, where the Smokey Hollow neighborhood used to be. There it runs beside Franklin Boulevard to end at East Tennessee Street where Leon High School is located. Overall, the described section of the Capital Cascades Trails is about 2.7 miles long and it is a very useful path to travel around Tallahassee by bicycle.

The mural under South Bronough Street is actually part of the History and Culture Trail project that infuses public art onto the Cascades Trail. Overall, there are seven artists chosen to create different artworks. Some pieces are already finished (like the “We Are All One” mural), others are still in production. One, so far, unfinished project is the “In Honor of the Worker” sculpture by the Tallahassee artist Mark Dickson. However, as you can see in the photo below, the sculpture is almost done, just missing an arm and the head. I guess someone watched too many Terminator movies…? I’ll be back.