New Year brings new era for Tampa Riverwalk

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The New Year brings the beginning of a new era for downtown Tampa. On the first Monday of 2016, construction begins to extend The Tampa Riverwalk.

The sidewalk along Doyle Carlton Drive will be closed for the next four months for the project, but Doyle Carlton Drive itself is expected to remain open for the majority of the time.

As of now, the Riverwalk starts at the Tampa Bay History Center near the Tampa Bay Convention Center and ends at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts.

But once the project is complete, the Riverwalk will run north to Waterworks Park, and will eventually stretch 2.4 miles along the Hillsborough River.

Some work is already underway, as the seawall is being shored up, and some grading has been done, but there’s much more ahead.

The project has been a long time coming since former Mayor Bill Poe first conceived the idea of a Riverwalk back in 1975.

It’s since progressed, slowly but surely, with major milestones – like the opening of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, and the completion of both Water Works Park and the Kennedy Boulevard Plaza- met in recent years. 

The stretch from the Straz Center to Water Works Park should be completed by April.