"I want to keep calling it the Ward Trail, but the Centennial Trail," Town Manager Robert Smith told Windermere Town Council on October 13, partway through presenting a grant for the new crossing over the canal. He had the name slightly wrong, and a council member corrected it a few minutes later. As shown in the meeting recording, council had renamed the bridge and left the trail alone.
The mix-up is easy to understand. This is the newest piece of public infrastructure in town, and the people who built it are still working out what to call it. The name question also matters for a practical reason. The Centennial Bridge works now and solves one specific problem. The Ward Trail it sits on is the first leg of a longer route, and the rest of that route is still on paper.
The crossing it replaced
Before this summer, getting from the north side of the canal to downtown on foot or by bike meant using an old pedestrian bridge. In April, the Orange Observer described it as a steep concrete ramp leading to a narrow walkway inside a warped chain-link fence, with vegetation growing through the top and sides. It was wide enough for two people walking side by side.
Mayor Andy Williams used the same crossing on his way to Windermere Elementary in the 1980s. "It's been around a long time, and it's always been how we see it now: narrow, steep," he told the Observer. Parents who biked their children to school described waiting at the top for pedestrians to clear and watching for handlebars catching on the railings.
Its replacement was delivered down Main Street on Monday, June 15, and first set in place the next day.
| Old pedestrian bridge | Centennial Bridge | |
|---|---|---|
| Width | About two people walking side by side | 14 feet |
| Golf carts | No room, so carts used the road bridge | Two carts can pass each other |
| Design | Steep ramp, chain-link enclosure | Railroad-style, 8 feet tall |
| Crossing | Canal between Lake Down and Lake Butler | Same canal |
Why the width was the point
Fourteen feet sounds generous for a footbridge, and on delivery day it worried even the town manager. The Observer reported that Smith wondered whether the bridge was too wide to get down the road. The extra width was there for golf carts.
Because the old footbridge was too narrow for golf carts, people driving carts between the north side and downtown crossed the canal on the road bridge alongside cars. That included school drop-off and pickup at Windermere Elementary. A bridge that lets two carts pass gives that traffic its own crossing off the main road.
Smith told the Observer in June that the aim was "to make sure we had safe routes for not only school children but (also) our general public and connect the developments that are north of the bridge to the downtown core." He also described the old approach near the canal: "If you go close to the canal on the dirt roads, that was usually a mud bog, and we usually have to scrape the sidewalk off because of the dirt and silt for kids walking to Windermere Elementary School."
The town has been clear about who the bridge is for. In an August 14 post, it said residents were already using the new trail and bridge. It listed the users as pedestrians, bicyclists and golf carts. It also said automobiles, trucks and other full-size motor vehicles are not allowed on the bridge, because they could damage it and endanger trail users. Golf carts may use it to cross the canal and rejoin the road network.
Two names, one project
The trail is named for Ken and Susan Ward, whose trust held the old railroad right-of-way between 12th Avenue and Windermere Road that the town wanted. The Observer reported that the Ward family eventually accepted the town's $250,000 appraisal, the town picked up the remaining land through property swaps, and council finalized the purchase on March 13, 2018. Smith said the project had been about 10 years in the making by the time the bridge arrived.
The bridge got its own name later. At the September 8 council meeting, Councilmember CT Allen proposed calling it the Centennial Bridge, noting that its logo had been designed for the town's centennial celebrations. The motion passed 5-0. At the October 13 meeting, council made the split explicit. The bridge is the Centennial Bridge, and the path is still the Ward Trail. Smith added that on paper the whole thing remains one project, the Ward Trail Pedestrian Bridge.
The town posted that crews would install signs along the Ward Trail and the Centennial Bridge on Tuesday, October 27, and asked people walking, biking and driving carts there to use caution during the work.
What's still being finished
The bridge is open, but the project is not finished. In the October 13 council packet, staff said the Centennial Bridge and Trail project is expected to be complete by December 2026.
Most of the remaining work is planting. The town received a $100,000 reimbursement grant from the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange to cover planting and greenery improvements along the trail. The town pays the contractor first and then gets reimbursed up to that amount. The grant comes with a visible condition. Staff proposed one permanent, double-sided Healthy West Orange recognition sign near the bridge, readable by trail users going onto and coming off the span. At the meeting, Smith said he planned to walk the bridge with the contractor the next day "and finalize what I want those areas to look like." Council members also mentioned that benches are planned.
The planned plantings were announced earlier: longleaf pines, firebush, saw palmettos and Sabal palms, with benches and lighting along the path. These are native plants that suit a former rail corridor. If parts of the trail still look bare this fall, that matches the schedule.
The construction funding came from outside sources. A $760,000 federal appropriation, secured through Congresswoman Val Demings and signed into law on March 14, 2022, went to Phase I and the new bridge, and the Florida Legislature approved $1,000,000 more. In September 2025, the town issued a notice recommending a $2,883,205 construction contract with Gosalia Concrete Constructors, Inc., pending council approval.
Where the trail could go next
Phase I is short. Mayor Williams told the Observer the stretch from North Drive to Park Avenue is just under a mile and he did not expect it to draw many people from out of town, since its main users would be residents. The town's longer plan, as reported in June, adds three more phases:
- Phase 2: North Drive to Sixth Avenue
- Phase 3: Along Sixth Avenue from Main Street to Apopka-Vineland Road
- Phase 4: Chase Road and 12th Avenue to Sixth Avenue
None of these has a timeline. In June, Smith told the Observer the future phases were unknown because of a property tax reform measure on the November ballot, and said Public Works could "take a huge hit" if it passed. "This is really just the first step," he said of Phase I.
Whether a home sits near the Ward Trail, and whether a golf cart can reach Main Street without using the road bridge, is the kind of detail that rarely shows up in a listing. If you'd like to know where streets like these connect to the trail and the Centennial Bridge, Israel Ramos LLC is glad to talk it through with you. Let's Connect.