Agency Seeks Input on Regional Bike Plan

Editor's Note: Great Rivers Greenway is holding a series of open houses around the area, including in St. Charles County, to seek public comment on a long-scale regional bicycle plan. Patch attended the first meeting in Webster Groves.

Lynn Loudermilk bikes the 25-mile round-trip commute from his  home toPurina two or three times a week. When he first started riding, he had to choose his route carefully to avoid heavy traffic. But that has gotten easier now, he said.

“A lot of roads are marked for bikes,” Loudermilk said. “There are bike lanes even on a portion of Grand Boulevard,” he said.

He hopes a new plan can help make his bike commute even easier. Loudermilk was one of those attending the Great Rivers Greenway open house at the  Tuesday.

The event was the first in a series of open houses by Great Rivers Greenway that allows St. Louis area residents a chance to weigh in on the agency’s large scale, long-range regional bicycle plan to enhance on-road connectivity in the region throughout the next 20 years.

Todd Antoine, deputy director of Great Rivers Greenway, said the plan’s goal is to create safer routes for bicyclists and increase the use of bicycles for transportation.

“Some folks out there are comfortable riding on the roads. Others prefer to stay on the bike trails,” Antoine said. “We’re trying to get folks in the middle."

He said in addition to making roads safer for cycling, the plan includes educating bicyclists and motorists to share the road with each other.

Paul Wojciechowski, vice president and St. Louis area manager for CH2M HILL, which is the engineering firm involved on the project, said being bicycle friendly doesn’t necessarily cost municipalities more money.

“It doesn’t always involve a cost for the city,” Wojciechowski said. “It could be simply striping the road differently. (If) they’re going to restripe a road, striping is already involved in the project cost anyway."

For example, turning a four-lane road into a three-lane road with a turn lane and wider shoulders sometimes can help traffic, Wojciechowski said.

For projects with additional expenses--say for a raised bicycle lane--he said the plan can help direct municipalities to funding sources such as grants and low-interest loans for bicycle projects.

“This is a great way to get people out and raise safety issues to address,” said Brian Plegge, an avid bicyclist from Webster Groves who also bikes to work downtown.

Other open houses on the regional bicycling plan will be from 4:30 - 7 p.m. at the following locations:

• May 17 - University of Missouri-St. Louis Millennium Student Center
• May 19 - , 1 St. Peters Centre Blvd

During the meetings, residents can learn about existing routes in their communities, view maps, comment on the proposed network of regional on-road routes, review what it will take to implement the system and learn about the performance measures needed to ensure successful expansion of an interconnected on-road system of bicycle routes in the region.

The plan encompasses St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. More than 100 municipalities are involved in the planning effort.