UPDATE: Series on Multi Paths - looking at the Red Road Linear Park Path. How it compares to the Palmetto Bay designed 136th Street project.

This video is part of a series examining multi use paths in our area. I plan in comparing the Old Cutler Trail, the Cutler Bay Shared use path, the Pinecrest Red Road Lineal Park Path. All compared with the current Palmetto Bay designed Shared Path now under construction on SW 136th Street. 

Many of you may be familiar with this Red Road Linear Park Path. It was originally created under Miami-Dade County and later nurtured and maintained by the Village of Pinecrest. Compare it with the JPA shared path that Palmetto Bay designed for SW 136th Street.

The Red Road Linear Park Path is a 2.5 mile lighted walking/bicycle path along the Snapper Creek Canal on Red Road. There are three rest areas accented with coral rock walls and enhanced landscaping along historic Red Road, located along the East-side of Red Road between Kendall Drive and Killian Drive in Pinecrest, Florida.

Now this is a shaded, park type amenity that provides safe mobility!

Here is a Yelp Review of this path/park:

Yes, per the Village of Pinecrest, this does qualify as parkland. It's a little strip of land bordered by Red Road on one side and the Snapper Creek Canal on the other. There is a meandering paved path, one upon which my running feet pound quite often. It's a running/walking/biking/blading path, and a good one.

The park is listed as 2.5 miles long. I'm surprised at that, because my internal odometer says it feels a little less. Maybe that's because unlike many other South Florida "parks," it actually has a bit of a tree canopy, helping somewhat to ease the pain the sun brings. In fact, there's a wide variety of native plant life on display along this path, from gumbo limbo to cypress to pond apple. This helps make the path as scenic as a path that close to a busy road can be.

This stretch of Snapper Creek looks like an enticing place to cast a fishing line, but in all honesty, the fishing here sucks. This stretch of the canal is just a deep featureless ditch, with little or no aquatic plant life or other structure providing cover for fish.

Insider tip....only run here when the wind is out of the east, the path is on the east side of Red Road. Run here during periods of westerly breeze, and you open yourself up to breathing truck exhaust.

Important note - this is one multi use path where there are no potential conflicts with motor vehicles - not one. At no point do vehicles cross the path at any point along any of this 2.5 mile path.

Take note of the following for this Red Road Linear Park Path:

• The appearance of park amenity including numerous park type benches. The uniformity of the path.
• The quality of the construction.
• There are no areas of conflict with cars anywhere along the entirety of the 2.5 miles of this path. It is a path uninterrupted by any conflict from motor vehicles crossing the path. 
• At no time does this path narrow from its uniform width, nor does it take any sharp turns or curves (once it begins – the southern terminus connects to the cross walk that leads to Pinecrest Gardens – and other path. 

Contrast this with the Palmetto Bay designed shared path. Note that there will be as many as 70 separate areas of conflict with roadways and the numerous driveways that will cross the Palmetto Bay designed shared path along SW 136th Street. And note, I have previously identified that safety is compromised at each point where motorized vehicles cross shared paths. 

See PRIOR RELATED POST of September 29, 2021, Series on Multi Paths - looking at Cutler Bay's shared path project. How it compares to the Palmetto Bay designed 136th Street project.