Tampa's Green Spine Is Finished. The Routes It Connects To Are Still Being Built.

At W. Cass Street and N. Howard Avenue, by the Armory in North Hyde Park, a two-way bike lane now runs east behind three-foot raised concrete dividers. It follows Cass through downtown to Nebraska Avenue, curves up Nuccio Parkway into Ybor City and ends on N. 15th Street at Cuscaden Park, 3.5 miles later. The City of Tampa declared the Green Spine complete on October 23, after more than a decade of planning, design and construction.

The track itself is finished. The car-free routes it was designed to plug into are not. The West Riverwalk extension is set for spring 2027, a short piece near N. 15th Street is waiting on an FDOT contractor, and a Riverwalk underpass at the Cass Street Bridge has no completion date yet. So this winter, the Green Spine works best as a route of its own, from one end to the other with stops along the way, and less as a connector to everything else.

The last third of a mile was the missing piece

The final section, officially Phase 2A, runs along W. Cass between N. Howard and N. Rome avenues. Construction started in October 2025 and wrapped up in September 2026. It's barely more than a third of a mile. But it's the part that ties North Hyde Park's residential grid to the protected lane that was already running downtown.

The city's Eco-Counter at N. Boulevard and Cass Street, just east of that new stretch, counted nearly 80,000 cyclists on the Green Spine in 2025. As of the October 23 announcement, it had recorded nearly 60,000 in 2026. Most of that 2026 total came while the Cass blocks to the west were a work zone. For roughly ten months, it's on pace with last year's full-year count, even with the western approach under construction. You can check the counter's live data yourself.

The project cost about $8 million. Grants paid for nearly 80% of it, and the city covered the remaining $1.6 million.

Riding it west to east, with places to stop

The route has three clear legs, and each has its own reason to get off the bike.

Leg one: North Hyde Park along Cass

Mayor Jane Castor connected the track directly to what's opening along it:

"New businesses have opened up along Cass Street and residents use the track daily to bike and scooter to work and school, exercise, and explore their neighborhoods."

She said it in the city's completion announcement.

Urban Jungalow, a plant-based café at 1910 W. Cass St., is one of them. Owner Justin Basil told WUSF that the café "intentionally installed a bike rack here because of the increase in traffic we get from, whether its cyclists, scooters, or pedestrians." Its website lists hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. So it works for a breakfast start any day of the week, or an evening finish later in the week.

Rome Avenue at Cass is also one of the places where the Green Spine will meet the West Riverwalk, according to 83 Degrees Media. For now, that corner is a junction for a path that's still being built.

Leg two: downtown, from Boulevard to Nebraska

Past the Eco-Counter corner at N. Boulevard, Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park at 1001 N. Boulevard is a short ride away. The city lists courts, a dog park and a playground with a splash pad there. If you're riding with kids, it's the natural halfway stop.

From there, Cass crosses the Hillsborough River and runs through the downtown core to Nebraska Avenue, where the track turns onto Nuccio Parkway.

Leg three: Ybor and up 15th Street

Nuccio Parkway carries the track into the Ybor City Historic District, and N. 15th Street takes it north to Cuscaden Park at 21st Avenue. The best Ybor stops are a few blocks east of the lane, not on it:

The Ybor City Saturday Market runs every Saturday all year, and it's on its longer cool-season hours right now, open until 3 p.m. through April. If you leave from the Cass end mid-morning, you can reach Centennial Park while the stalls are still busy. Cafe at 1920 opened in fall 2025, according to Tampa Magazine. It closes at 3 p.m., so it's a daytime stop. The Ybor City Museum State Park is closed Monday and Tuesday, so plan a museum stop for later in the week.

At the north end, Cuscaden Park has six pickleball courts, according to the city's pickleball page. Cuscaden Pool, at the same address, has zero-entry access and an interactive water feature. The city's pool listing currently shows it as closed for the season.

The 7th Avenue rule changes how you ride a shared scooter

Those Ybor detours come with a catch if you're on a rented bike or scooter. The city's shared-micromobility page says shared bikes and scooters may not be ridden on the Riverwalk or on 7th Avenue. The track meets the 7th Avenue area right where Nuccio enters Ybor, and that's also where Cafe at 1920 sits on E. 7th Ave. If you're on a shared vehicle, end the ride before 7th and walk the last few blocks. Riders on their own bikes aren't covered by that rule, but the Riverwalk restriction on shared vehicles will matter more once the West Riverwalk links open. That page is an older city listing, so check your app's in-app ride zones before you set out.

What "complete" still leaves for 2027

The rest of the car-free routes around the Green Spine are on separate schedules:

1. The N. 15th Street segment. The city says its share of the work is done, but a small section near N. 15th Street will be finished by an FDOT contractor after its interstate work, likely in the spring. The city sends riders to its road closures page for live detour information.
2. The West Riverwalk extension. The city says the Green Spine will meet this project at two locations. In July 2026, 83 Degrees Media reported that construction was about 20% complete and expected to wrap up in spring 2027. The roughly $60 million project includes the Platt Street and Brorein Street pedestrian bridges, the Tony Jannus Park Observation Overlook, and about two miles of new Riverwalk. The city's project record lists a planned end date of June 11, 2027.
3. The Cass Street Bridge underpass. A Riverwalk path under the bridge would let riders skip the Cass and Tyler crossing and continue toward the Straz Center. WUSF reported on October 23 that it's still in preliminary engineering and design, with no completion date set.

Until those three are done, the Green Spine's best stops are the ones right along it. Breakfast on Cass, the splash pad off Boulevard, the market at Centennial Park and the courts at Cuscaden are all reachable today on one protected route from Howard Avenue to 21st Avenue. Once the West Riverwalk opens, the same ride will connect to the river's west bank.

Projects like this one tend to change how people get around the blocks along them. If you live near Cass, Nuccio or 15th and want to know how new routes like the Green Spine affect what your home is worth, Anne Bromberg Luxury Group can walk you through it. Get Your Home Valuation.