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Tampa Riverwalk

{{Short description|Open space and pedestrian trail in Florida}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}

{{Infobox park

| name = Tampa Riverwalk

| image = File:Tampa architectural photos 256.jpg

| image_size = 256

| image_alt = Refer to caption

| image_caption = A section of Tampa's Riverwalk along the Hillsborough River and Curtis Hixon Park

| map = USA Florida

| map_width = 208

| location = Tampa, Florida

| coordinates = {{coord|27.944696|-82.458767|format=dms|region:US-FL_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| area =

| established = {{start date|1989}}{{cite web |url=https://www.tampagov.net/sites/default/files/riverwalk/files/Tampa_MP_book.pdf |title=The Tampa Riverwalk Master Plan |author=EDAW, Inc. |author-link=EDAW |date=July 2006 |accessdate=4 May 2018}}

| operator =

| designer =

| publictransit = TECO Line Streetcar

| visitation_num =

| open = Year round

| website = {{URL|www.thetampariverwalk.com|thetampariverwalk.com}}

}}

File: Tampa Riverwalk along the Convention Center Waterfront - Eric Statzer.jpg

File:Tampa architectural photos 262.jpg along Tampa's Riverwalk and the Hillsborough River]]

File:Tampa Riverwalk1.jpg

The Tampa Riverwalk is a {{convert|2.6|mile|km|adj=mid|-long}} open space and pedestrian trail along the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. The Riverwalk extends along most of the downtown Tampa waterfront from the Channelside District on the eastern terminus to the mouth of the Hillsborough River and then north along the riverside to Tampa Heights, forming a continuous path that connects a multitude of parks, attractions, public spaces, and hotels.{{cite news| first1=Vanessa |last1=Gezari |title=Progress on Tampa Civic Projects // Mayor selects Riverwalk designer |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=5 February 2005 |page=3B}} Among the notable points of interest along the Riverwalk are the Tampa Bay History Center, Amalie Arena, the Tampa Convention Center, Rivergate Tower, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Water Works Park, and the Waterfront Arts District which includes the Tampa Museum of Art, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Glazer Children's Museum, and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. Locations along the Riverwalk play host to many community events, most notably the numerous festivals held at Curtis Hixon Park and the arrival of the "pirate ship" Jose Gasparilla, which moors at the Riverwalk behind the Convention Center during the Gasparilla Pirate Festival.

According to the city, the purpose of the Riverwalk is to "enhance the image of Tampa as a beautiful and unique destination" and highlight Tampa's waterfront.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tampagov.net/riverwalk/about-us|title=About Us|author= |date=2019 |website=City of Tampa|language=en|access-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329210840/https://www.tampagov.net/riverwalk/about-us |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |url-status=dead}}

Origin and description

Tampa's Riverwalk has its origins in the 1970s, when much of the downtown waterfront consisted of aging warehouses and industrial facilities related to the nearby Port of Tampa. Tampa mayor Bill Poe conceived the idea of a park and walkway behind Curtis Hixon Hall, a civic center along the Hillsborough River that was one of the few public spaces in the area.{{cite web| first1=Margaret| last1=Cashill | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/print-edition/2011/04/08/riverwalk-opens-up-new-avenues.html |title=Tampa's Riverwalk opens up new avenues |date=8 April 2011 |website=Tampa Bay Business Journal |accessdate=26 March 2019}} The city built a short stretch of boardwalk on the east side of the river behind the Hall, but a lack of funds to buy adjoining properties and subsequent mayors' disinterest in the project paused further construction. Tampa renewed its push to revitalize its "desolate" downtown in the mid-1980s, and over the next decade, obsolete Curtis Hixon Hall was replaced by a riverside park and the Tampa Convention Center, Amalie Arena, and the Florida Aquarium were constructed with mostly public funds along the waterfront. However, change was limited by many underutilized spaces and poor transportation options inside the downtown area.{{cite news |last1=Kohli |first1=Diti |title=My, has downtown Tampa changed in the last 35 years |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2021/06/09/my-has-downtown-tampa-changed-in-the-last-35-years/ |access-date=March 19, 2022 |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=June 9, 2021 |language=en}}

In 2002, mayoral candidate Pam Iorio pledged to jumpstart the Riverwalk project if elected. She won, and construction soon began on two parks behind Amalie Arena and a connecting pathway along the Garrison Channel.{{cite web| first1=Dave |last1=Simanoff |url=http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBT66GML0E.html |title=Downtown Gets Greener |date=22 October 2004 |website=Tampa Tribune}} The Riverwalk progressed in phases over the next few years with funds from the city, a $20 million fundraising campaign, and occasional state and federal grants. The project reached a significant milestone in 2010 when Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, a new Tampa Museum of Art, and the Glazer Children's Museum all opened near the location of the original 1970s boardwalk, which had been replaced by the widest portion of the modern Riverwalk directly across the river from the University of Tampa.{{cite web| first1=Margie |last1=Manning |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2006/03/13/daily24.html |title=Capital campaign launched for Tampa Riverwalk |date=14 March 2006 |website=Tampa Bay Business Journal}} Bob Buckhorn, who succeeded Iorio as Tampa's mayor, was a strong advocate for downtown redevelopment and continued the push to expand the Riverwalk.{{cite web |url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/feds-deny-grant-that-would-have-helped-extend-tampas-riverwalk/1206982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924144817/http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/feds-deny-grant-that-would-have-helped-extend-tampas-riverwalk/1206982 |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 September 2015 |title=Feds deny grant that would have helped extend Tampa's Riverwalk |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=19 December 2011 |accessdate=26 February 2012}} In 2014, a federal transportation grant was used to complete a $9.2 million boardwalk under the Kennedy Boulevard bridge, connecting all existing segments into one continuous path about two miles long. A further northward extension completed in 2016 stretched the path past the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and under Interstate 275 to newly opened Waterworks Park in the adjoining neighborhood of Tampa Heights, bringing the total length of the Riverwalk to {{convert|2.6|mile|km}}.{{cite news |last1=Carlton |first1=Sue |title=It's official: Tampa loves its Riverwalk. So how about six more miles of it? |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/2022/03/16/its-official-tampa-loves-its-riverwalk-so-how-about-six-more-miles-of-it/ |access-date=March 16, 2022 |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=March 16, 2022 |language=en}}

Upon completion, Tampa's Riverwalk quickly became both a community gathering place and a busy non-vehicular corridor connecting various downtown attractions and hotels. Besides pedestrian traffic, bicycles and motorized scooters are available for rent at many stations along the path, and a water taxi provides service between the Riverwalk and nearby areas such as Hyde Park, West Tampa, Harbour Island, and Davis Islands. In addition, the TECO Line Streetcar runs parallel to the Riverwalk along the Garrison Channel and provides a connection to the interior of downtown and the nearby historic neighborhood of Ybor City.

Future plans

In 2022, the city announced plans to develop new segments of the Riverwalk along the west side of the Hillsborough River, across from the existing path. The west bank addition would stretch north into the neighborhood of West Tampa and would be connected to a "Green Spine" of pedestrian and bike-friendly greenways and protected lanes that extend into areas well away from the river, adding an additional {{convert|6|mile|km}} to the combined project and creating a large loop.

Public art

In recent years, the city has installed a color-changing LED lighting system along portions of the Riverwalk to add nighttime color to the path and nearby bridges. It is specially lit for various events, such as green and gold for University of South Florida commencement ceremonies and blue for Tampa Bay Lightning games.{{cite web |url=https://www.tampa.gov/news/city-tampa-shines-blue-and-hoists-go-bolts-flags-cheer-tampa-bay-lightning-72731 |website=TAMPA.GOV |access-date=11 June 2021|title=City of Tampa Shines Blue and Hoists Go Bolts Flags to Cheer on the Tampa Bay Lightning |date=20 May 2021 }}

=Historical Monument Trail=

In 2012, commissions for six $15,000 bronze busts of prominent figures from the History of Tampa were secured by the Friends of the Riverwalk with sculptor Steven Dickey. Nine historians including, former Tampa Tribune reporter Leland Hawes and Tampa Bay History Center curator Rodney Kite-Powell, made the selections.{{cite web| url=https://tbo.com/news/tampas-riverwalk-will-honor-citys-history-people-364825 |title=Tampa's Riverwalk will honor city's history, people |date=4 March 2012 |website=Tampa Bay Times |accessdate=26 March 2019}} The first honorees were:

Additional honorees have been selected and busts added along the Riverwalk in subsequent years. As of 2022, a total of thirty historical figures have been honored. Among them are:

  • Frank Adamo, leading local doctor and medical advocate for POWs as fellow prisoner during World War 2
  • Cyril Blythe Andrews, prominent local minister, civil rights advocate, and publisher of the Florida Sentinel Bulletin newspaper
  • Blanche Armwood, educator and community leader
  • Elizabeth D. Barnard, first female postmaster of Tampa
  • Meroba Hooker Crane, businesswoman and owner of the first hotel in Tampa, the Orange Grove Inn; key preserver of Oaklawn Cemetery
  • Edward Daniel Davis, local educator and civil rights advocate
  • Cody Fowler, local attorney and civil rights advocate
  • Herman Glogowski, community leader and first Jewish mayor of Tampa
  • Gavino Gutierrez, civil engineer who urged Vicente Ybor to locate in Tampa; early developer of Ybor City
  • Ossian B. Hart, governor of Florida and noted civil rights advocate during the Reconstruction era
  • Ignacio Haya, friendly competitor to Vicente Martinez-Ybor whose factory rolled Ybor City's first cigars
  • Kate V. Jackson businesswoman, philanthropist, environmentalist, and local leader
  • Peter O. Knight, key local politician and attorney during Tampa's early development period
  • Bena Wolf Maas, businesswoman, civic leader, and humanitarian
  • Hugh Campbell Macfarlane, attorney, businessman, and developer of West Tampa
  • Victoriano Manteiga, popular lector in Ybor City's cigar factories and founder of La Gaceta, the nation's last published tri-lingual newspaper
  • Benjamin Elijah Mays, nationally known educator and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr.; leader of the Tampa Urban League in the 1920s
  • Paulina Pedroso, activist for Cuban independence and civil rights leader
  • Francisco Aristides Rodriguez Jr., prominent lawyer advocating for fair treatment for African Americans in Florida's criminal justice system; leader of local NAACP and La Union Marti-Maceo
  • Garfield Devoe Rogers, businessman, philanthropist and developer of Rogers Park
  • Norma Tina Russo, former prima donna from Italy who became a strong advocate for the arts in Tampa
  • Stephen M. Sparkman, first member of the US House of Representatives from Tampa; instrumental in securing federal support for the development of the Port of Tampa
  • Moses White, businessman, community leader and philanthropist
  • Mack R. Winton, prominent local surgeon; worked with Clara C. Frye to establish an unsegregated hospital, then hospital for members of El Centro Español de Tampa

=Other art=

In 2016, the city of Tampa commissioned a lenticular mural to be placed underneath the Laurel Street Bridge by the Hillsborough River. The mural was created by RE:site, Metalab, Designtex, and PolyVision and is titled "Woven Waves." "Woven Waves" is designed to evoke the concept of a quilt, inspired by the currents of the river and the diverse cultural makeup of Tampa.{{cite web|title=Tampa Riverwalk|url=http://polyvision.com/about/projects/tampa-river-walk|website=PolyVision|accessdate=6 January 2017}}{{cite web|title=Woven Waves|url=https://www.codaworx.com/project/woven-waves-city-of-tampa|website=Coda Worx|accessdate=6 January 2017}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Hillsborough County, Florida, Points and Events of Interest}}

Category:Parks in Tampa, Florida

Category:Landmarks in Tampa, Florida

Category:Tourist attractions in Tampa, Florida

Category:Transportation in Tampa, Florida