Capital Cascades Trail Segment 3 Amenities

Project Descriptions

Segment 3 of Capital Cascades Trail often is referred to as the FAMU Way Corridor. It creates a new east-west roadway from South Monroe Street to Lake Bradford Road, a distance of approximately 1.5 miles. The corridor also provides increased connectivity to the burgeoning Gaines Street and CollegeTown districts, creating a link between FAMU and Florida State University.

Recreation and Resilience on the Capital Cascades Trail

The History & Culture Trail project will honor adjacent resilient neighborhoods, civil-rights advocates, and economic engines of the communities located along FAMU Way. It will highlight the culture of these communities and their stories through artistic cultural and historical interpretations. The project will provide an interactive, immersive outdoor museum experience to residents and tourists alike that recognizes and celebrates the historical contributions and cultural impact of these communities. Interpretive history kiosks will display images, photographs, and historic information about the neighborhoods, businesses, and people living and working in the area. Through a partnership with the Council on Culture and Art (COCA), artistic installations are planned to complement the interpretive kiosks.

The project includes six key thematic areas, or subject areas for recognition, along the trail:

• Theme 1: Allen Subdivision
• Theme 2: FAMU History & Civil Rights
  (includes honoring Dr. Charles U. Smith)
• Theme 3: Villa Mitchell and Economic Engines
• Theme 4: Boynton Still & Economic Engines
• Theme 5: Railroad Depot
• Theme 6: Elberta Crate

The project will:

• Share and celebrate the rich history and culture of the neighborhoods, businesses, and people living in the areas surrounding the Capital Cascades Trail and FAMU Way Extension projects.
• Highlight the history of the Tallahassee African‐American community who has historically called the Project area home, as well as the significant history of FAMU and the local civil rights movement.
• Improve civic engagement, enhance civil discourse, and encourage thoughtful and meaningful dialogue among people regarding the story of the surrounding communities.
• Enhance the tolerance, diversity, and understanding of our communal history.
• Add cultural value by communicating Tallahassee’s unique identity, social value by engaging opportunities for interaction and self‐reflection.

Link to Interpretive Outline (as presented to the IA Board on 4/8/2021): Click Here to Download

Project Manager: Tatiana Daguillard

Skateable Art:

Capital Cascades Trail Skateable Art Project is a world-class skate park and is Tallahassee/Leon County’s second public skate park.  It embraces artistic elements to provide an optimal riding experience for park users and visually stimulating space for spectators.  The central feature in the park is a roughly 225-foot-long snake run, which is the longest snake run in Florida.  The park includes two shade structures.  Other features include a competition style bowl, a war memorial inspired feature, elements that mimic real “street skating” are curved banks and ledges featuring various textured stamping, an A-frame with a ledge, pyramid hips with ledges, rails, and a manual pad, and a snake gap with hubbas.  The final element is a stenciled quarter pipe.

The Skateable Art Park is part of Blueprint’s larger goal to cultivate destinations and amenities along the Capital Cascades Trail. The Skateable Art Park is nestled among many other destinations such as Railroad Square Art Park, restaurants, hotels, and breweries. Other Blueprint projects in the area include Cascades Park, Smokey Hollow Commemoration, Coal Chute Pond, and the History and Culture Trail.

Current Status:  Complete

Project Manager: Sue Tanski

Coal Chute Pond Amenities:

Improvements include a multi-use trail around the perimeter of the pond, lighting, seating, landscaping, and irrigation, and a drinking fountain. Blueprint also has partnered with Knight Creative Communities Institute’s (KCCI) Red Hills Rhythm Project to bring musical-play features to this new community space. There also will be an informal performance space with an entrance to Railroad Square.

Project Manager: Junious Brown

Current Status: Complete

Capital Cascades Trail Restroom:
The new restroom facility features two family-style restroom stalls with an adult and child changing table near the existing FAMU Way Playground, near the Skateable Art Park and Coal Chute Pond.

Project Manager: Junious Brown

St. Marks Trailhead:
Located at 3DB Pond, the Trailhead will connect Cascades Trail and St. Marks Historic Rail Trail and features on-site parking spaces. The design features an open, well-lit trailhead including amenities such as a water-bottle filling station, bike-repair station, and a drinking fountain.

Community Gathering Space at 3DB Pond:

This new public space overlooks 3DB Pond, which is a stormwater facility. The latest installation for the project was the Duperon FlexRake at 3D-B Pond.

 The Duperon FlexRake is part of the innovative stormwater treatment facility and is a mechanical screen system that helps keep trash from entering the central drainage ditch. The FlexRake is installed at the 3DB Pond in the box-culvert drainage system that conveys stormwater from the St. Augustine Branch and flows from upstream of the Capital Cascades Trail. As litter flows with stormwater through the box culvert underneath FAMU Way, it is caught in the bars of the large rake and pulled out of the stormwater system and into a waste dumpster. The treated stormwater is then discharged into the Central Drainage Ditch that flows to Lake Henrietta.

 The Central Drainage Ditch is a stormwater conveyance system that carries site water runoff south from a large part of central Tallahassee including downtown, Frenchtown, and the main FSU campus. The system transitions into the Munson Slough and ultimately to Lake Munson, a no longer an FDEP impaired waterbody that is directly connected to the Floridian aquifer and several springs, including Wakulla Springs.

 Learn more about the Duperon FlexRake here.

Construction continues and is expected to be completed by the end of Q3 2023

Capital Cascades Trail Project