St. Joseph adds 4 miles of new trails

According to a St. Joseph News-Press article:

With three more sections of St. Joseph’s hiking and biking trail system set to open later this summer, things are looking up for recreational bicyclists and those trying to save money.

“We’ve seen commuter cycling go up, like, 1,000 percent,” said Sean Force, owner of Forces of Nature Cycling & Outdoors. “Before, it would have been for exercise, but now we actually see those trails becoming more of a link across the city for people going to and from work.”

Nearly four miles of family-friendly hiking/biking trails in all will be added to the existing network of concrete paths that generally parallel parts of the city’s renowned parkway system. The additions, which began with some clearing work last fall, have been delayed by a harsh winter and early spring. . . .

Clements said these trails are a small part of what it takes to make St. Joseph a “bike-friendly” community, and the city has far to go in reaching that goal. “It carries a lot of things with it — road design, subdivision design.”

While he believes St. Joseph has a lot of catching up to do, these projects and two more scheduled for next year should do a lot to improve the situation. Next year another phase of the Riverfront Trail will be funded, extending that path northward to the northwest corner of the Heritage Park parking lot. Eventually, that should tie into the sidewalk system of the Cook Road extension project.

Much progress has been happening in St. Joseph over the past couple of years, with the creation of the Quad States Trails-St. Joseph advocacy group, St. Joseph hosting the start of the 2008 Tour of Missouri, and the continuing activity of the St. Joseph Bicycle Club.