ST. PETERSBURG — When Alex Gallegos rolls along the Pinellas Trail on his green Schwinn, he does not ride in fear.

But the 26-year-old St. Petersburg resident hasn't forgotten that a friend of his was robbed at knifepoint a few years ago while walking along a stretch of trail that Gallegos rides a few times a week. So he was glad to see that the city installed cameras between 43rd and 49th streets S.

"I think it's a good idea," Gallegos said Friday while on the way back from Demens Landing to his house on 61st Street. "My girlfriend's afraid to ride down here when it gets later in the day. Some of these stretches you can see for miles in either direction and there's no one around."

The relative desolation of the six-block stretch and the string of incidents there in the last couple of years — including a high-profile attack and robbery of a couple in early 2014 — prompted the City Council to approve a pilot camera project that officials hope will deter crime and, if that doesn't work, help catch the criminals seen on video.

"Hopefully, these cameras will curb that kind of activity," said City Council member Wengay Newton, whose district includes that section of the trail. "People expect to be safe when they use these recreational trails."

A total of 16 5-megapixel cameras are mounted on six poles located at the end of each block and at some mid-block access points. City staffers are still tweaking the system, which should be fully operational in the next week or so, said Evan Mory, the city's director of parking and transportation management.

The trail camera feeds won't be continuously monitored but can be viewed at the police station and on laptop computers in police patrol cars.

The city considered using a vendor but opted instead to have staffers design a system that works with the software already being used with cameras in other parts of the city. The project is expected to stay within the $125,000 budget, Mory said. Since the 42-mile recreational trail is owned and operated by Pinellas County, city officials and the county Metropolitan Planning Organization asked the county to chip in. The idea had the support of at least one commissioner, Ken Welch, whose district includes that part of the trail. Other commissioners and County Administrator Mark Woodard opposed the idea, citing a tight budget and the problematic precedent of using county funding for municipal law enforcement.

The six-block stretch of trail is part of a larger problem section that runs through secluded industrial areas between 49th and 16th streets S. Officials plan to assess the system for a year or so before deciding whether to add cameras, Mory said.

"If it winds up being highly successful and we need more, we'd bring it to City Council," said Yolanda Fernandez, spokeswoman for the Police Department.

Arnie Goldin and George Hunt were happy to see the cameras. As volunteer auxiliary rangers for the county, Goldin, 68, and Hunt, 70, patrol the trail on their bikes and sometimes in a golf cart, as they were doing Friday. The Redington Beach residents said the surveillance system will increase safety but is no replacement for rangers.

They also hope the city doesn't go overboard with too many.

"You want to get away from cameras, you want to get away from cellphones, you want to get away from all the technology and just enjoy nature," Goldin said.

Contact Tony Marrero at tmarrero@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8779. Follow @tmarrerotimes.