Pinellas Trail Dedication

In Memory of Albert Valery III

The Pinellas Trail might never have come about had it not been for the untimely death of Albert Valery III. Since the late 1960s, various city employees had tried to interest the county in creating bicycling paths, but to no avail. Then, on April 1, 1983, young “Bert” was killed on the Belleair Causeway while bicycling home from his part-time job. This tragic accident became the catalyst for launching what is now known as The Pinellas Trail.

Determined to turn their family’s personal loss into something positive, Bert and Patti Valery began petitioning the county for safe bicycling paths. They lobbied for and helped establish the Pinellas County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization Bicycle Advisory Board in 1983. They and a small group of residents expanded the vision to include an unused railroad corridor that ran the length of the county. It took five years of petitioning and campaigning across various municipalities before the concept of a linear park—a “green ribbon” recreational trail—took shape as part of the voter-approved Penny for Pinellas sales tax in 1989. One year later, the first section of the trail opened at Taylor Park in Largo, marking the beginning of this now widely recognized county treasure.