Port Tampa Bay’s portion of the downtown waterfront is not any closer to becoming accessible to the public. A working study group made of port employees presented four potential options to the board on making Cruise Terminal 2 open to pedestrians when ships are not docked. Mayor Jane Castor, who sits on the port board voiced her opinions at the Tuesday meeting.

Option one involved building an elevated walkway at an estimated cost of $25 million. Mayor Castor suggested this option be immediately thrown out due to the price tag. Patrick Allman, a board commissioner supported the option of extending the Tampa Riverwalk through Cruise Terminal 2 as first, but now has changed his position on the idea. The terminal, he says, is no longer seasonally operated and it would not make sense to have the area open for only a few days due to the costs of moving a barge in and out, or taking away fencing along the proposed walkway, as presented in options two and three. Mayor Castor prefers the third option, and questioned why a gate that can open and close based on if a cruise was in the port couldn’t be installed.

Port Tampa Bay projects 92 cruise ship sailings at Terminal 2 in fiscal 2024. Some of these sailings are ship relocations resulting from renovations at terminal 6, though some increase is due to new business. In Allman’s opinion the benefits of extending the riverwalk through Terminal 2 no longer exist. The option Allman does support for extending the riverwalk through Terminal 2 is option four, which places Riverwalk signage along the currently existing sidewalk at Channelside Drive. Port Tampa Bay, Florida Aquarium, and the public would collaborate to create an opening to the American Victory Ship west of the cruise terminal under option four, and the option would cost between $150,000 to 250,000.

Mayor Castor says that the Riverwalk will eventually keep going north along the Ybor Channel, alluding to the fact that eventually all the city’s waterfront will be publicly accessible. Referencing Darryl Shaw’s proposed Ybor Harbor, Castor has expressed desire to expand the Riverwalk to the development. Shaw has also addressed that adding a Riverwalk extension to the Ybor Harbor would add a connectivity to downtown developments that does not currently exist.

The Port of Tampa has final say on the future of the waterfront at Terminal 2, and it will be some time before a final decision is made.