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McKinley Bridge Bikeway and Trestle grand opening

The Great Rivers Greenway District and the Metro East Park and Recreation District will jointly celebrate the grand opening of the McKinley Bridge Bikeway and Trestle at Branch Street on Saturday, June 7, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The McKinley Bridge Bikeway is a 2,600-ft. long by 14-ft. wide cantilevered lane separated from vehicular traffic lanes on the McKinley Bridge. Offering dramatic views of the Mississippi River and downtown St. Louis, the bikeway is a unique and distinctive feature of the reconstructed bridge that was reopened for vehicular traffic last November.

Also new on the Missouri side is the Trestle at Branch Street, a 2,400-ft. long by 24-ft. wide paved path that rises from street level at Branch Street to the height of the McKinley Bridge Bikeway. The trestle provides a direct connection to the popular 11-mile Riverfront Trail.

Eventually, an additional extension on the Missouri side will connect the Trestle at Branch Street, an adjacent historic elevated steel trestle that continues to downtown St. Louis. The trestle, which was a former rail corridor, will distinguish St. Louis as only the third city in the world, after the High Line in New York City and the Promenade Plantée in Paris, to convert an historic elevated railroad viaduct into a linear urban recreation area.

In a press release for the event, Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan highlighted another important aspect of the project. “Thanks to the vision and hard work of the Madison County Transit District (MCT), we have a world-class bikeway system featuring over 100 miles of interconnected trails in Madison County. The opening of this landmark project by MEPRD and Great Rivers Greenway brings us another step closer to providing Missouri residents with enhanced access to those trails.”

While there are existing on-road connections to both the Confluence Trail and Schoolhouse Trail, MEPRD and MCT are in the planning stages for a trail connection that will link the McKinley Bridge Bikeway directly into the one of those existing MCT trails.

No bicycle riding will be allowed on the McKinley Bridge during the event, but participants will be able to walk or take a shuttle bus to take advantage of bands, food and other activities in St. Louis and across the Mississippi River in Venice, Ill. There's an early bird ride from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. from North Riverfront Park in St. Louis down to the bridge. The bikeway will be officially dedicated at noon.

Columbia, Ill.-based Helmets First will giving away bicycle helmets to the first 100 children.

Labels: bicycling, Illinois, McKinley Bridge, Missouri, St. Louis, trails

Roger 0 comments links to this post 10:39 PM

Friday, November 16, 2007

McKinley Bridge dedication

Just a reminder: The dedication of the refurbished McKinley Bridge, which connects St. Louis with Venice, Ill., will take place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on the Illinois side of the bridge.

After the dedication, the bridge won't be open to vehicles until later this month, when the two vehicular lanes will be open to the public. Illinois Department of Transportation construction engineer Ted Nemsky told the Belleville News-Democrat that "very minor" steel repairs remain, bridge and bike rails need to be installed, and some touch-up painting needs to be completed.

Once the bridge is open to cyclists, there will be no direct connections -- for now, anyway -- from the bridge to any existing trails, the Riverfront Trail in Missouri and the Madison County Transit's Confluence and Schoolhouse trails in Illinois, but you can use streets and highways to get to them.

A trail to connect the bridge with the bridge with the Confluence Trail is likely to be finished in 2008. Until then, you can use Illinois Route 3 to get to 20th Street in Granite City, the southern trailhead of the confluence trail. The trail is on the west side of Route 3. Between the bridge and 20th Street, Route 3 has a wide, paved shoulder.

There also will be a direct connection from the bridge to the Riverfront Trail. Until then, you can take the bridge to the North Broadway intersection in St. Louis. Turn right on North Broadway, turn right on East Grand Avenue, turn left on Hall Street, turn right on East Prairie Avenue, and that will take you to the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing stop on the Riverfront Trail.

Someday, MCT hopes to connect the Schoolhouse Trail to the bridge, but that's many years down the road. I suppose you can go from the bridge to the Route 3/Broadway intersection in Venice, turn right on Route 3/Broadway, stay on Broadway when Route 3 veers to the right, turn right on Second Street in the city of Madison, turn right on Illinois Route 203 (McCambridge Avenue), turn right on Harrison Street and hop on the trail there.

However, I would advise you not take to use option unless you're sure of where you're going and feel comfortable riding in urban areas. A wrong turn could put you in some dicey neighborhoods in the Venice-Madison area.

Labels: Illinois, McKinley Bridge, MCT Trails, Missouri, St. Louis

Roger 0 comments links to this post 1:01 PM

Saturday, October 27, 2007

St. Louis-area bicycle projects

Two St. Louis-area bicycle project made the news this week.

First, the dedication of the rebuilt McKinley Bridge is slated for Nov. 17, the Belleville News-Democrat reported today. The 92-year-old bridge -- which links the city of St. Louis with Venice, Ill. -- was originally built for railroad traffic, and two lanes were automobiles were built on the outside of the original bridge in the 1930s. Railroad traffic stopped on the bridge in the 1980s, and the bridge was closed in 2001 because of unsafe conditions.

When the bridge reopens, the two inner lanes of the bridge will be used for automobile traffic, the 12-foot south outer lane will be used for a bicycle-pedestrian path, and the 12-foot north outer lane will be used for maintenance purposes.

In a related project, the Great Rivers Greenway District wants to turn a mile-long former Illinois Traction System trestle into a bicycle-pedestrian trail that would connect city streets near Cass and North Florissant avenues in St. Louis by an overhead ride to the Riverfront Bike Trail, near the McKinley Bridge. The Greenway District didn't have a price tag for the project but would like to begin construction within five years, the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Illinois Traction System, later known as the Illinois Terminal Railroad, once carried rail passengers from St. Louis into Illinois cites such as Granite City, Edwardsville, Alton, Grafton, Springfield, Peoria, Decatur, Champaign-Urbana and Danville. The McKinley Bridge was part of that system.

Much of the current Madison County Transit trail system is on former ITS rights of way, as is some of the Vadalabene Great River Road Bikeway between Alton and Grafton.

In Macoupin County, Ill., a short trail linking the communities of Benld and Gillespie is on a former ITS right of way, and the ITS Trail Committee is trying to obtain the right of way for a trail to link Staunton and Benld. The seven-mile Interurban Trail between Springfield and Chatham also is on a former ITS right of way.

The long-term goal is to develop a system of trails that will link St. Louis and Springfield.

Labels: Illinois, McKinley Bridge, MCT Trails, St. Louis

Roger 2 comments links to this post 11:29 AM