Well, I tried. • After more than five years, I was back in Tampa for an extended visit this month. I thought I'd ride a bicycle on Bayshore Boulevard, Tampa's signature street and one I used to avoid when I lived here from 2003-2012 because the city engineered the road as a commuter parkway. • People simply drove their cars too fast for me to feel safe on a bicycle.
But always the optimist, I thought I'd give Bayshore another try. I don't ride a bicycle on the Bayshore sidewalk the city calls a trail because I don't think it's safe to ride a bike at 12 or 14 mph with pedestrians, moms with strollers and roller-bladers.
The first mile was fine, as I rode the bicycle in a bike lane. But after a mile or so, the bike lane gave way to a travel lane and that's when things got dicey.
I took the narrow lane as bicyclists are trained to do. Most motorists moved over to safely pass, but two people driving cars nearly hit me from behind. One was a young woman in a compact car who came within a foot or two of driving her car into me from behind. Another was a person driving a work vehicle who also came within a foot or so of hitting from behind.
After I finished that ride, I crossed off Bayshore as a road to ride a bicycle for the rest of my visit. I didn't feel safe. I thought, "What kind of city doesn't take its showcase waterfront street and design it in a way to make it a great bicycling experience?"
But this commentary isn't just about Bayshore Boulevard, a road designed to prioritize motorist convenience over bicyclist and pedestrian safety.
This is a story about how Tampa and Hillsborough County sadly trails so many other metro areas when it comes to diversified transportation options and safe alternatives.
For nearly seven years until I left Tampa in November 2012, I tried to increase the profile of bicycling and explain to elected leaders how bicycling can make a metro area competitive and improve the quality of life.
Before I left, I asked Tampa-Hillsborough for an amenity you see in most metropolitan areas: a regional paved trail system that would offer trail continuity for bicyclists to travel from different parts of Hillsborough County into downtown Tampa.
Like the Pinellas Trail.
But there is none - despite money spent on studies, reports and consultants.
That's not to say there hasn't been some improvements in the city of Tampa, but I didn't expect to find more because while I supported Mayor Bob Buckhorn in 2011, it's not in his genetic code to be a bicycle mayor.
What's sad is the city employs a terrific transportation staffer named Jean Duncan, who gets it and could help transform the city, if given the resources.
Duncan supports complete streets, but Buckhorn recently rejected a complete streets project on Bay to Bay Boulevard.
Again, cars before bikes and pedestrians
While Tampa lurches slowly ahead in bicycle improvements, the Hillsborough County Commission lives with a bicycle grade of SPF: Sad, Pathetic, Fail.
Commissioners such as Victor Crist, Sandra Murman, Ken Hagan and others have been MIA in terms of advancing a regional, connected bicycle trail system.
When I visited this month, I wasn't expecting Portland, Denver or Minneapolis. But it was sad to see that so many public agencies like the Florida Department of Cars (FDOT), TBARTA, Hillsborough County and Tampa have made such little progress.
It's not about giving a break to bicyclists. It's about investing in regional paved trails and safer designed roads for ALL users - not just people in cars. It's about competing against other metro areas and attracting economic development that goes beyond subdivisions and strip malls.
You can't out-build your problems with more roads.
The community-led All For Transportation effort will allow Hillsborough County voters to pay for more transit options. And it has even earmarked $18 million for Bike/Walk a year.
So, there's hope.
When it comes to catching up with other metro areas, however, small reforms won't cut it. A major overhaul is in order.
Elected officials risk making Tampa economically irrelevant amid intense competition for growth opportunities.
Meanwhile pedestrians and bicyclists continue to be killed, maimed and injured.
Alan Snel spent three years reporting on the business of sport at the Tampa Tribune before creating a Tampa Bay bicycle store alliance called South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers (SWFBUD) that increased the profile of bicycling in the region. He currently lives in Las Vegas and runs a news website called LVSportsBiz.com, which covers the news intersection of sports, business, stadiums, politics and consumer issues.