City of Tampa breaks ground on $57M Riverwalk expansion

After nearly 40 years of planning and politicking, construction has begun on the final stretch of downtown Tampa’s iconic Riverwalk — a roughly 2-mile expansion along the west side of the Hillsborough River that’s expected to cost $56.8 million once completed.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor joined city council members and community leaders Tuesday morning for a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the final leg of a project that has been in the works since 1976, when the first wooden planks for a waterfront walkway were installed in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. 

Once finished, likely in early 2027, the West River BUILD project will close the final remaining gaps in the city’s award-winning Tampa Riverwalk, creating a continuous, 12.2-mile multiuse pathway along both the eastern and western banks of the Hillsborough River that extends to Ballast Point Park.