Don’t delete any selfies from the boardwalk at Loblolly Woods Nature Park — you may have to wait about five months to snap another one.
Gainesville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs recently closed the boardwalk for renovations after years of complaints of safety hazards and loose boards.
To keep citizens away from the construction site, barricades have been placed in front of the entrances, and signs direct park visitors to an alternative detour route.
The detour route, Mason Manor boardwalk, is located at Northwest 25th Street. Linda Demetropoulos, nature and cultural manager for Gainesville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, said walkers and joggers from Eighth to 16th Avenues can still use this path. “The decking boards were in disrepair,” she said.
Steve Phillips, director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, said one reason for the reconstruction is the decreasing life expectancy of the wood panels that make up the boardwalk. The wetland areas tend to experience weathering and therefore require frequent maintenance and replacement.
“This is something we need to address because it’s a park for access,” Phillips said.
Katelyn Zanchetta, a 21-year-old UF health education and behavior science senior, said she was disappointed when she saw that the barricades had been placed in front of the boardwalk.
She said she wanted to check out the park but was upset when she discovered that she had to park farther away from the main entrance.
“I hope that when they reconstruct it, the boardwalk would be long enough to make the long walk from my car worthwhile,” Zanchetta said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 5/22/2014 under the headline "Loblolly Woods Nature Park boardwalk closes for renovations"]
A sign at Loblolly Woods Nature Park in Gainesville warns of closures to the boardwalk Monday afternoon.
