The Fort Fraser Trail Now Reaches Lakeland Highlands Road. Both Ends Are Still Unfinished.

"I am sure cyclists and walkers will love being able to now get from Bartow to downtown Lakeland via this trail."

That's how Polk County Commission Chair Martha Santiago put it at the Holloway Family Trail ribbon cutting on Feb. 24, 2026, according to Polk County's announcement. Eight months later, as the cooler riding weather settles in, you can't make that ride yet. The paved path stops at Glendale Street on the north end. On the south end, it's fenced off at State Road 60 in Bartow. If you live near Lakeland Highlands Road and the Polk Parkway, that leaves you at the top of a trail that runs one way, with both of its missing pieces moving forward this season.

Here's where each end stands this fall, and what you can ride in between.

How the Trail Got to Lakeland Highlands Road

The new segment exists because of a land deal. Polk County says developer Ed Holloway Jr. bought 1,600 acres of previously mined land in Lakeland in 1990, and in 2021 he sold part of it to Orlando Health for what's now Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital. Orlando Health then donated a half-mile strip running parallel to the Polk Parkway, and that strip became the Holloway Family Trail. Construction began in July 2024, funded by a $3.9 million state grant along with money from the City of Lakeland and Polk County.

The Holloway strip is only one piece of a longer extension, and the length you'll hear depends on who's describing it. The FDOT SUN Trail fact sheet puts the extension at 3.35 miles, from near SR 540/Winter Lake Road and US 98 up to Glendale Street. In a March 20, 2026 release, Orlando Health called it a $4.5 million, 2 1/2-mile extension that "jogs over to Lakeland Highlands Road off Glendale Avenue and extends by the Polk Parkway," and pointed to the bridge over what's usually a wetlands area. Either way, a Polk County agenda record with a June 2, 2026 final action lists construction as complete and names Glendale Street as the north end.

That's the first missing piece. Glendale Street is the end of the line.

The North Gap Runs About Half a Mile

North of Lakeland Highlands Road, the next stretch of finished trail is already in place. The City of Lakeland's trails page lists Three Parks Trail East, along New Jersey Road between Glendale Street and the Peterson Park Trail, as recently completed. The Three Parks Trail is named for Peterson Park, Woodlake Park and Publix Charities Park. The city describes it as a 3.6-mile multi-use path and part of the Lake-to-Lake Bikeway.

The missing piece is Glendale Street itself, between Lakeland Highlands Road and New Jersey Road. City Commission Resolution 25-063 puts the gap at about 2,750 feet and approves a local agency agreement with FDOT for $960,000 toward building it. That half-mile is all that separates the Fort Fraser Trail from the Lakeland trail network the Holloway segment was built to reach.

The city has called this piece the Glendale Trail, or Fort Fraser Extension Phase II, and its trails page still files it under "Upcoming." A city report dated March 2, 2026 said Polk County had finished its extension to the Glendale Trail and described the Glendale segment as under design.

Bids Are Due Oct. 29

The design phase is over. On Sept. 14, 2026, Lakeland Public Works Engineering posted an invitation for bid titled "Glendale Street Trail from New Jersey Road to Lakeland Highlands Road," project 2026-ITB-111. The bid documents call for a 10-foot shared-use path along with roadway, sidewalk, driveway and drainage work.

An addendum on Oct. 12 pushed the deadline back. A third addendum on Oct. 15 uploaded revised plans and a new bid form and kept the due date at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. The city has also asked for proposals on construction engineering and inspection services for the project, with submissions due Oct. 5.

None of these documents gives a construction start date or a finish date. The Oct. 29 bids are the first step toward a contract, not a groundbreaking. Until crews pave that stretch of Glendale Street, the city hasn't published any official detour linking the two trail ends.

The South End Is Closed at State Road 60

Head the other way and you'll hit the second missing piece. Polk County describes the original Fort Fraser Trail as a 7.75-mile route along US 98, from SR 540/Winter Lake Road in Lakeland to SR 60 in Bartow. Its south end has always had a problem: you had to cross a busy state highway to keep going.

FDOT's project page for the Fort Fraser Trail over SR 60 explains that trail users currently have to go east or west to the nearest intersection to cross SR 60, which it calls challenging because of heavy traffic. The fix is a $9.6 million multi-use trail bridge connecting the north and south sections. FDOT says the bridge will also give trail users access to downtown Bartow residents and businesses. The current phase started in early 2026, and FDOT estimates it'll finish in mid-2027.

While the bridge goes up, the trail is closed from the north trailhead just north of SR 60 through the end of the trail on the south side. The north section stays open. The Ledger reported that lane closures on SR 60 started Sept. 29 for median reconstruction. FDOT says the westbound left-turn lane into Chick-fil-A and one eastbound lane up to the Walmart turn lanes will stay closed through early spring 2027. Westbound drivers headed to Chick-fil-A can go on to Wilson Avenue and turn left there. The Walmart entrance isn't affected.

So the trail that's supposed to run "from Bartow to downtown Lakeland" currently stops short of SR 60 at the bottom and at Glendale Street at the top.

What You Can Ride Right Now, North to South

Everything between those two endpoints is open, and from the Lakeland Highlands side it's a long ride south. Here's the route in order:

1. The Holloway Family Trail runs along the Polk Parkway past the new hospital campus and crosses the wetland bridge that Orlando Health highlighted.
2. The Winter Lake Road and US 98 junction is where the new extension meets the north end of the original Fort Fraser Trail. If you're starting here instead of from home, Polk County lists parking behind the sheriff's substation at 4120 US-98.
3. The Fort Fraser site sits just south of CR 540A, marked by a historical marker noted on TrailLink. Orlando Health's release explains that the trail follows an old CSX rail line and takes its name from an 1837 fort built during the Second Seminole War.
4. The Circle B Bar Reserve spur is a half-mile paved side path to the reserve and Polk County's Nature Discovery Center. The county runs nature tram tours there Tuesday through Friday and posts each month's schedule on the first.
5. The Highland City trailhead is on 4th Street SE between Central Avenue and Laurel Avenue and has parking and restrooms.
6. The open stretch toward Bartow ends at the closure just north of SR 60. Along the full original route, the county counts five picnic shelters, six rest shelters and three trestle bridges.

From the hospital end, every stop on that list is to the south. Until the Glendale Street gap is built, the new trail gets you from Lakeland Highlands Road to Highland City, Circle B and the edge of Bartow, but it doesn't connect you to the Lakeland trails it was built to reach.

The Two Dates That Finish the Route

Once both are built, Glendale Street will tie into the Three Parks Trail and the Lake-to-Lake Bikeway on the north end, and on the south end the bridge will carry riders over SR 60 into downtown Bartow. Of the two, only the bridge has a published target date. The Glendale gap is shorter, but its schedule depends on how the Oct. 29 bids turn out.

Since the trail came through, the Lakeland Highlands area sits at the top of the Fort Fraser Trail, and over the next couple of years it'll become the link between Bartow and Lakeland's trail network. If you'd like to talk about what that could mean for your home's value, from someone who has watched south Lakeland grow, Brian Stephens is glad to sit down with you. Get your instant home valuation, and we'll take it from there.