From the densely populated outskirts of Orlando to the sleepy, residential community of Oviedo, the Cross Seminole Trail provides crucial links to local residents.
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	For more information on how to contact your local transportation advisory committee or council, contact your local MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization).

Bike-Ped Voice Heard on Florida Transportation Issues:

In an important step for rail-trails in Florida, Ken Bryan, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's Florida Field Office director, was appointed in late 2006 by Florida Governor-elect Charlie Crist to serve on his Department of Transportation Transition Team. The team's central focus: to evaluate existing transportation operations in Florida and make recommendations for improvements.

The team consisted of interested citizens with a primary focus of various highway and motorized transportation issues. Bryan was the lone bicycle-pedestrian/rail-trail voice. "For the first time in a long time, bike-ped has a seat at the same table as the road builders," Bryan says.

The impact of such a position cannot be overstated. "An opportunity like this only comes up every four to eight years," he says, referring to the two-term limits of Florida governors. "And it's really the only time where there's a completely outside, objective look at department operations; an opportunity to talk about what works and what doesn't, and have that input be welcome."

Bryan was able to speak directly to the governor, the state transportation secretary, and one of the Department of Transportation (DOT) district secretaries about the future of rail-trails and bike-ped transportation concerns, asking "the questions I had never been able to ask before."
After analysis and interviewing Florida DOT representatives, the team's report was delivered to Crist on January 3, the governor's first full day in office. Bryan also took the opportunity to submit a two-page addendum to the report regarding his findings as they related to rail-trails and bike-ped, and he says he did not necessarily give good grades on everything. "I pointed out the good and the bad," he says.

How this report will affect Florida's future transportation goals is yet to be seen, but Bryan believes that participation in the process was invaluable. "Transportation planning involves many different levels. There's the 30,000-foot level where you look at the big picture, but there is also the 1,000-foot level on the home-front. Getting involved in that local transportation improvement program at the MPO (metropolitan planning organization) and district level—that's where the action's at.

"There is a need for everyone to get on their local bike-ped advisory committee. At some point, they're making decisions five, 10 and 20 years in advance. You can help ensure success if you get on these committees at the grassroots level."