Where are the good places to ride in St. Louis?

Q: Where are the good places to ride in St. Louis?

A: St. Louis is becoming a bike friendly community. Riding in the street is much easier than it was 10 or 20 years ago, and the assortment of bike paths available to us is growing every day. Here is an summary of the best riding opportunities in our community.

Overview of the St. Louis metro trail system

The Regional Bikeways of Metro St. Louis page is an interactive online map of all the dedicated bike trails and marked bike lanes in the St. Louis area. This web site is provided by RideFinders, a program in the St. Louis region that promotes ride sharing and alternate transportation (like bike commuting) to improve the quality of life in our community. RideFinders offers a free paper copy of the trail map that you can carry with you while riding; contact them at 800-847-7433 to get a copy, or request a copy online.

Popular trails

The KATY Trail is the preeminent trail in Missouri. It is the longest “rails-to-trails” project in the country, and stretches 225 miles from St. Charles on the eastern side of the state (near St. Louis) all the way to Clinton in the west (fairly near Kansas City and the western border of Missouri). The two best places for information about the KATY are at the official State web site and at www.bikekatytrail.com.

There are very many popular bike trails in the local area. On the Missouri side of the Mississippi, four that stand out are Forest Park, Creve Coeur Park, Grant’s Trail and the Riverfront Trail.

Forest Park is the largest park in St. Louis City, and is home to the Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, the Muny Opera, and many other attractions. The park has several bike trails, including a 7.5 mile loop that follows the perimeter of the park. The website includes a map showing the bike trails.

Creve Coeur Park is the most popular park in St. Louis County. It has a network of pedestrian/bike trails that circle Creve Coeur Lake. A new trail runs from the park to a bridge across the Missouri River, and on the other side connects to the KATY Trail. Unfortunately the park is not very well documented on the web. (The official web page for the park does not even mention the bike trails.) The trailnet.org site has a map that you can view or print.

Grant’s Trail is another popular trail built on an abandoned railroad right-of-way. It is located in southwest St. Louis County, is presently 8 miles long, and is slowly expanding both to the east and west.

The Riverfront Trail runs along the west bank of the Mississippi River, from the Arch in downtown St. Louis to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge at the very northern edge of the city limits, a distance of about 12 miles. The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, once part of the famous Route 66 highway, has been reopened for pedestrian and bicycle use, and is by far the best way to cross the Mississippi by bicycle in the St. Louis metro area. The Riverfront Trail is not very well documented on-line, but there is a page at the Trailnet website, and a map is also available from the Trailnet site.

Bicycle trails are perhaps even better developed in the metro-east of St. Louis (Illinois, east side of the Mississippi). There is one long trail and a large trail network that are particularly noteworthy.

The Sam Vadalabene Trail runs 20 miles along the banks of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The eastern two-thirds of the trail follows the river’s edge, starting in Alton, Illinois and passing through the towns on Elsah and Grafton. The western end of the trail past Grafton moves off the river’s edge and into the bluffs overlooking the valley, before ending in the scenic Pere Marquette State Park.

The best developed set of bicycle trails in our entire metro area is undoubtedly the Madison Country Transit trails system. This network of over 85 miles of trails covers most of Madison County. Free paper maps of the trail system are available at numerous points on the trail, and at government offices and bike shops in the area.

Street riding

Bike St. Louis is a project to identify and mark on-street bicycle routes in St. Louis City and St. Louis County. As of May 2008 over 77 miles of dedicated bike lanes and shared traffic lanes have been marked. A map of the routes can be viewed on-line or downloaded, and you can get paper copies of the map at numerous government offices and local bike shops.

Organizations that promote cycling in St. Louis

Trailnet promotes walking and bicycling in the St. Louis bi-state region, and is active in developing new bike trails in the area. Trailnet produces an extensive calendar of rides and events every year. The trails and bikeways section of their site has a nice on-line map and collection of information about local trails, and good links to other resources about riding in St. Louis and elsewhere.

The Great Rivers Greenway District is one of the organizations active in developing new bike trails and bike lanes in the St. Louis area. Their web site has news about recently completed trails and new initiatives being planned.