Florida Rail Trails Network

The Florida rail-trail network is the set of paved trails on former railroad corridors within the Florida Greenways and Trails System, the statewide system the DEP Office of Greenways and Trails coordinates.

Chapter 260, Florida Statutes, makes it state policy to provide a statewide system of greenways and trails for recreational and conservation purposes, and it declares planning, building, running and maintaining that system a public purpose that the state, counties, cities and special districts may spend money on (s. 260.012, F.S.). The Office of Greenways and Trails, inside the DEP Division of Recreation and Parks, counts more than 10,000 miles of land-based trails and more than 5,000 miles of paddling trails in Florida (DEP Office of Greenways and Trails).

Florida law sets aside money to buy such corridors. The Florida Forever Act sends 1.5 percent of program proceeds to DEP for the Florida Greenways and Trails Program, and names abandoned railroad rights-of-way and the Florida National Scenic Trail as purchase targets, although for the 2026-2027 fiscal year the statute says proceeds are distributed as the General Appropriations Act provides (s. 259.105, F.S.). The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail shows how it works: the City of Jacksonville applied to DEP in August 1990, and in December 1992 the abandoned railroad corridor was purchased from CSX Transportation Inc. through the Florida Greenways and Trails Program (City of Jacksonville).

The rail-trails also feed Florida's long-distance routes. DEP lists the 1,515-mile Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, the approximately 1,500-mile Florida National Scenic Trail and the longest state segment of the East Coast Greenway among them (DEP OGT).

Florida rail-trails open today include the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail, the Pinellas Trail, the Withlacoochee State Trail, the Blackwater Heritage State Trail and the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail, among others.

The City of Jacksonville describes its trail as a 100-foot-wide right-of-way extending about 14.5 miles from Imeson Road to the Town of Baldwin, with a paved trail and a parallel equestrian trail (City of Jacksonville). DEP describes the Pinellas Trail as running through Dunedin on an abandoned CSX railroad corridor, Inverness as sitting on the 46-mile Withlacoochee State Trail and Milton as the first Panhandle trail town on the 9-mile Blackwater Heritage State Trail (DEP Trail Town Program). In Orange County, the county parks list shows West Orange Trail stations at Killarney, Winter Garden, Chapin and Apopka, plus an Apopka-Vineland Outpost (Orange County Parks).

The Florida Coast-to-Coast Trail is 88 percent complete on its planned route of about 250 miles from St. Petersburg on the Gulf to Titusville on the Atlantic, according to DEP in October 2026 (DEP Coast-to-Coast Trail).

DEP calls it the first state trail of its kind in the United States: a continuous paved multi-use trail across Florida, linking all or part of several existing multi-use trails and managed by a broad range of communities and agencies; a Coast-to-Coast Trail Alliance held a kick-off meeting on Feb. 14, 2023, at Wekiwa Springs State Park after a four-year hiatus (DEP OGT). Its corridor includes most of the 51-mile East Central Regional Rail Trail, the longest single rail-trail corridor the Office of Greenways and Trails has ever acquired.

Several Florida Trail Towns sit on the route. Clermont's South Lake Trail is at the halfway point and offers restrooms, shade, showers, water fountains and free Wi-Fi; the Good Neighbor Trail through Brooksville is part of the Coast-to-Coast corridor; DeBary is where three major state bike trails connect steps from the only SunRail station in Volusia County; and Titusville is where the Coast-to-Coast Trail, the East Coast Greenway and the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop meet (DEP Trail Town Program). For large gaps, DEP offers a Coast-to-Coast Story Map Guide with wayfinding and alternate routes (DEP OGT), and a Coast-to-Coast status map dated December 2025 (DEP system plan maps).

FDOT pays for new paved trails on the statewide network through the SUN Trail program, and section 339.81 requires FDOT to allocate at least $50 million a year to that network starting with fiscal year 2023-2024.

The Shared-Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail Network is legally part of the Florida Greenways and Trails System. Its trails must be physically separated from motor vehicle traffic and built of asphalt, concrete or another hard surface, and the network does not include sidewalks, nature trails, loop trails wholly inside one park or natural area, or on-road facilities such as bicycle lanes, with narrow exceptions (s. 339.81, F.S.). FDOT gives funding priority to trails the Florida Greenways and Trails Council recommends as regionally significant, trails of statewide or national importance, and projects that close gaps between existing trails.

On top of the yearly floor, the SUN Trail network received a one-time $200 million appropriation in the 2023 Legislative Session to plan, design and build more trail (FDOT, December 2023). FDOT says projects inside the SUN Trail network, the Priorities of the state system plan, are eligible for competitively solicited SUN Trail funding, and lists (850) 414-4922 as the program contact phone (FDOT SUN Trail).

The statute says FDOT is not otherwise obligated to pay to operate and maintain trails on the network, and it may hand maintenance of a trail to a local government by memorandum of agreement (s. 339.81, F.S.).

Florida picks future trails through the 2024-2028 Florida Greenways and Trails System Plan, which the Florida Greenways and Trails Council approved and DEP publishes with statewide and regional maps (DEP system plan).

The plan maps an Opportunity network of regionally and statewide significant trails; its most important links are the Priorities, and those Priorities are the geographic area FDOT treats as the SUN Trail network (FDOT SUN Trail). DEP posts regional status maps dated December 2025 for the Coast-to-Coast Trail, the St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop, the Capital City-to-the-Sea Trails, the Heart of Florida Loop, the Gulf Coast Trail, the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail and the Florida Heartland Regional Trail (formerly the Collier to Polk Trail), plus a US 90 Trail Corridor map dated March 2026 (DEP system plan maps).

DEP notes that the online maps will be periodically updated while the maps in the printed plan will not, and the plan page was last modified October 8, 2026 (DEP).

Florida had 22 designated Trail Towns by October 2025, when Marco Island was named the 22nd, and DEP lists more since, including Gulf Breeze and Sanibel, whose story maps were still pending in October 2026.

Dunedin became the first Florida Trail Town in January 2018, and DEP credits the Pinellas Trail with lifting the downtown business occupancy rate from 30% to 100% (DEP Trail Town Program). Other recognized towns include Titusville, Malabar, Vilano Beach, Clermont, Palatka, Inverness, Deltona, Everglades City, Winter Garden on the West Orange Trail, Gainesville Depot Park, DeBary, Winter Haven, Brooksville, Mount Dora, the Tallahassee Cascades Corridor, Milton, Sopchoppy, White Springs, Venice on the Legacy Trail, Sanford, St. Petersburg's Greater Arts District and Stuart.

A Florida town that wants the designation starts by contacting its OGT Regional Coordinator and completing the Trail Town self-assessment (DEP). Marco Island was designated at the Florida Greenways and Trails Council meeting in October 2025.

Hours and trailheads for a Florida rail-trail are posted by the government that runs it, such as the City of Jacksonville for the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail or Orange County Parks for the West Orange Trail.

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is open from sunrise and closes at sundown, with trailheads at Imeson Road, Camp Milton Historic Preserve, Halsema Road, Otis Road, the old trail depot in Baldwin and Brandy Branch Road, plus about 8.5 miles of unpaved spur trails for day hiking and horses (City of Jacksonville). The West Orange Trail's Chapin Station is listed at 501 Crown Point Cross Road, and every station shares the phone number (407) 533-4732 (Orange County Parks).

Road crossings are where Florida rail-trails are least forgiving. FDOT and the DEP Division of Recreation and Parks produced a trail safety video built on three rules for riders and drivers alike: look and listen, obey signs and markings, and take responsibility for one's own safety (DEP OGT). October is Florida Greenways and Trails Month, and in October 2026 the DEP OGT page promoted First Day Bikes on Saturday, October 3, at the Capital Circle Trailhead of the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the DEP Office of Greenways and Trails website, with SUN Trail details checked on the FDOT website.