Newly opened Riverwalk section offers respite from hectic times

Riverwalk at Westmoreland Park
Melissa and Ryan Yunas enjoy a peaceful sunset view from the new Riverwalk at Westmoreland Park. CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE

Find peace in these complex times on a just-completed stretch of the Riverwalk boardwalk above the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

Stroll along above the water with no worries about social distancing or crowds for 1,300 feet from Westmoreland Park to Bridge Plaza at Port St. Lucie Boulevard. Benches along the way offer places to sit and enjoy the view, read, take pictures, or just sit and think.

City officials did their walk-through last month, signaling the boardwalk’s completion. At Bridge Plaza, the Riverwalk takes a turn and goes up to the plaza. The next step in the project is to build a 300-foot extension under the Port St. Lucie Boulevard bridge so that the Riverwalk can connect to the existing 2,400-foot boardwalk that goes to Rivergate, by Veterans Memorial Park. The extension will allow pedestrians and cyclists a safe way to bypass crossing Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

Construction on the $1.9 million project began in December 2019. Funding came from the Florida Inland Navigation District and the city’s capital improvement funds.

Westmoreland Park will eventually contain a restaurant, a children’s playground, a historical village, and a wetlands conservation area. In the future, the new boardwalk will be extended several hundred feet southward to the conservation area which will have walking trails. The entrance to the park, on Westmoreland Boulevard, is also the entrance to the Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens.

— Susan Burgess

See the original article in the print publication

Please follow and like us: