Parking to walk on Bayshore Drive Sidewalk (Tampa, Wimauma: live in, costs)

[corvidae]

I just moved to Tampa and was reading the claim that the sidewalk along Bayshore Drive is one of the longest continuous sidewalks in the country (or world?). I was wondering if anybody might know what a good place to park would be if I wanted to start walking it on the northern part towards downtown/Hyde Park.

[BucFan]

why not park at Publix -

Google Maps


I did notice a few other parking areas along Bayshore - that looked like public parking (free).

[Tim Tim Tim]

find a side street and walk over to bayshore. There aren't really any lots for it, which is stupid.

[gumbyfly]

There is a dirt parking lot at the corner of Bay-to-Bay and Bayshore. It is not on the northern end of course.

[kerplunk]

I live in Hyde Park. The easiest thing to do is just, as someone mentioned, find a street that is near it and park there.

Bayshore Blvd. is beautiful.... a shining gem of Tampa.

[BucFan]

Just be very careful as a pedestrian around Bayshore - seems like traffic speed can be very high and very busy.

[tewas]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Just be very careful as a pedestrian around Bayshore - seems like traffic speed can be very high and very busy.

Speed is 40 mph in that area and it is busy only during rush hours when people going to/from downtown. Pedestrian sidewalk by the way is fairly safe and there are few yards of green between street and sidewalk itself.

As gumbyfly mentioned there is parking lot at Bay-to-Bay and Bayshore, but it get full around 5-6 since a lot of people coming for a run park there. South of Bay-to-bay there are quite a lot of side streets where you don't need permit to park, you can just stop there and cross Bayshore for a walk.

[TampaFrank]

If you want to stroll nearer downtown, you can park in the lot where the Gasparilla pirate ship is docked. It is just south of Platt Street, on the east side of Bayshore Blvd. It is a metered lot, but it only costs $.50/hour.

There is also a free lot on Platt St just west of Four Green Fields Pub. From there it's just a short stroll east on Platt until you get to the northern tip of the Bayshore sidewalk.

Publix lot was mentioned also...I've heard that particular Publix is notorious for towing people that use their lot but don't shop there so be careful if you go that route.

Also make sure to check out the Riverwalk downtown. The walk from the convention center over to the history center is really nice.

Good luck!

[Keeper]

I agree be careful cro ssing the street.. Had a friend who was killed trying to cross the street while jogging

[Jimrob1]

I always parked at a park, I think its called Ballast Point. I never had any problems parking there, and didn't have to worry about being towed for illegal parking. Seemed like alot of people besides me had the same idea.