Host a DIY Bike to Work Day Station at your workplace on National Bike to Work Day, Friday, May 15. Join Trailnet in counting 500 cyclists throughout the STL area. We will help promote your station and your business!
How it works:
Recruit co-workers to run the station with you.
Decide what breakfast items you will provide. If your workplace’s budget allows, these items may be purchased, or donated by partner businesses.
Once you have an idea of who will run the station and what breakfast items will be provided, fill out the DIY Station form, found here. Trailnet will follow up with you to arrange for educational materials to be displayed at your station.
Make a plan to promote Bike to Work Day through your workplace’s employee newsletter, email, flyers in the breakroom, and social media (don’t forget, Trailnet will be promoting your station too, so someone from outside your workplace might stop by).
If your workplace doesn’t have one already, create a team on ShiftYourCommute.com. Co-workers can join your company’s team and log their car-free miles. On Bike to Work Day, everyone who logs their car-free commute is eligible to win prizes!
Provide support and encouragement for your co-workers leading up to Bike to Work Day. Some ideas include:
Route mapping – Provide links or maps in your company-wide newsletter or break room featuring bike-friendly routes. If you are a regular bike commuter, list your favorite streets, shortcuts, and parks to ride through.
Bike mentors – Pair novice cyclists with experienced bike commuters who can accompany them on their first ride to work.
Bike trains – Identify a handful of meeting locations to “pick up” fellow bike commuters on the way to work. Designate an experienced commuter to lead the group from each spot, ending at your workplace’s Bike to Work Day station.
On Bike to Work Day, make sure to track the number of people who visit your station (don’t forget to count yourself and any colleagues who help run the station), and send your final tally to molly@trailnet.org by Monday, May 18.
Thank your volunteers, pat yourselves on the back, and start thinking of ideas for next year. Share your successes through your company’s social media, employee newsletter, and partners. Share the experience with Trailnet and send any photos or quotes to molly@trailnet.org.
Trailnet’s Manager of Policy and Advocacy, Rhonda Smythe with Alderman Scott Ogilvie, and Trailnet’s Executive Director, Ralph Pfremmer
An update to St. Louis City’s Complete Streets policy passed on January 30, 2015 with unanimous support from the Board of Aldermen. Every aspect of our lives are impacted by the way our streets are designed and built. The comprehensive and collaborative approach laid out in this bill will have significant impacts on the quality of life for St. Louisans.
Major updates include:
A new framework for collaboration between City departments will be developed. The Departments of Health, Parks and Recreation, and Office of the Disabled will now have a formal seat at the table for the planning and implementation of future transportation projects. This means that air quality, public health, public safety, ADA improvements, and safe connections to major destinations will have a higher priority than in years past.
Street design standards will be updated to reflect the most current best practices, guidelines, and recommendations issued by the USDOT. This means no more bike lanes in gutters and appropriate pedestrian signals!
A targeted, data-driven approach to high crash intersections and corridors with prioritized improvements. Trailnet recently partnered with OpenDataSTL and Walker Hamilton to create an interactive map of bicycle and pedestrian crashes at http://bike-ped.confluencecity.com/. Tools like this enable data-driven decision making.
Performance measures and benchmarks will be identified and assessed annually.
Alderman Ogilvie sponsored this important piece of legislation and continues to be a strong advocate for pedestrians, bicyclists, and people with disabilities. Many partners joined Trailnet in advocating for the Complete Streets update, including Paraquad, American Heart Association, AARP, YMCA, and numerous neighborhood advocates. Our deep and sincere thanks for the valuable work they do to support a more livable St. Louis!
For more information on Complete Streets, click here.
Safe Routes to School – active living for kids
Walbridge Elementary students mark the start of their walk on a neighborhood map
Encouraging kids to get out of the family car and join their friends on a walk to school is one of the goals of Trailnet’s Safe Routes to School Program. Trailnet organized a series of Walk to School Days in the Fall, engaging nearly 2,000 children at a number of elementary schools throughout the area.
At Froebel Literacy Academy, Trailnet staff presented “Steps in the Right Direction” to the school’s Leadership Development students. This five-week program focuses on the benefits of active transportation, provides guidance on safe pedestrian behavior, and encourages the kids to advocate for a safer walking environment in their neighborhood. Student activities included a “walk about” the school to identify potential hazards to pedestrians, and Jeopardy and Bingo games to learn about pedestrian safety.
Froebel students display their pedestrian safety posters
Students in the program created posters designed to encourage their classmates to walk more and to highlight wise pedestrian decisions. As the student leaders commented, hanging the posters around the school will remind kids that “walking is good for you,” to “wear bright colors at night,” and “stop jaywalking!”
Trailnet thanks Mr. Von Smith, Froebel’s Family and Community Specialist, for his enthusiastic cooperation and tireless efforts on behalf of his students. Thanks also to school staff and parent volunteers who helped to organize Walk to School Days at participating schools. Their dedication to active living (and their willingness to provide hot coffee) inspires other families to “walk the walk.”
In 2015 we look forward to continuing our partnership with Froebel’s Leadership Academy and with the many schools with whom we have enjoyed years of collaboration. We are excited about promoting healthy, active living at two additional St. Louis Public Schools through the development of walking school bus programs, and through collaboration with other Family and Community Specialists. Together with these dedicated staff and parents, we hope to put more little boots on the ground!
Funding for the Safe Routes to School Program is provided by
With funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, Trailnet is working with partners to see a Calm Streets network built in the City of St. Louis. Calm Streets are residential streets transformed to reduce speeding and provide safety for everyone traveling there. On Calm Streets, traffic calming measures are used to reduce the volume and speed of motorized vehicles; increase space for landscaping and managing stormwater; and increase comfort for those walking and biking.
There are many benefits to creating Calm Streets.
Calm Streets reduce speeding
By using traffic calming elements such as speed humps, curb extensions, and traffic circles, people travel at slower speeds.
Calm Streets improve safety
The City of St. Louis is now at a five‐year high for traffic deaths. Our high rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities have made us a Federal Highway Administration pedestrian focus city since 2011. By slowing traffic down we can save lives. With increased “eyes on the street” as a result of increased walking and biking, Calm Streets can help deter criminal activity.
Calm Streets encourage walking and biking
The safety and comfort Calm Streets provide can increase walking and biking, which is good for our health and the environment. Across the country, Calm Streets have encouraged more biking than standard bike lanes. The high degree of safety and comfort they provide can draw in populations that have had historically lower levels of biking, such as youth, the elderly, women, and communities of color.
Calm Streets add beauty and help reduce flooding
Calm Streets often include rain gardens planted with native landscaping that add beauty and help reduce street flooding. (insert photo)Using traffic calming features such as speed humps and curb extensions, we can create Calm Streets where people drive the speed limit and therefore preserve the safety of people walking and biking.
Calm Streets connect us to the places we go and can help strengthen the economy
Because they are on residential streets, Calm Streets make it easier to get to our parks, schools, and other places in our neighborhoods. Studies have shown current and future residents want to walk and bike more. Calm Streets can help retain and attract new residents, thereby strengthening the local economy.
Though all city residents are encouraged to participate in the project’s outreach, during different phases of the project outreach has been focused in three opportunity areas: Opportunity Area #1 (The Ville, Greater Ville, JeffVanderLou, Carr Square), Opportunity Area #2 (Forest Park Southeast), Opportunity Area #3 (Dutchtown). The Calm Streets Project is helping to implement the City of St. Louis’ Sustainability Plan which calls for considering Calm Streets as a means of improving city-wide and neighborhood-scale mobility.
In 2014 Trailnet and partners educated more than 1,200 residents about Calm Streets through community meetings, walks, and outreach. From 2015 – 2016, Trailnet and partners have been working through a strategic work plan for building Calm Streets, beginning with selecting pilot routes.
A: Calm Streets are residential streets transformed to reduce speeding and provide safety for everyone traveling there. On Calm Streets, traffic calming measures are used to reduce cut-through traffic and the volume and speed of motorized vehicles; increase space for landscaping and managing stormwater; and increase comfort for those walking and biking.
Q: Where will Calm Streets be built?
A: The Calm Streets project is a partnership with the City of St. Louis and other partners to see Calm Streets built within the city. The City of St. Louis offers many opportunities for building Calm Streets because of its grid street network. However, other jurisdictions in the region can build Calm Streets.
Calm Streets will be created on streets in the City of St. Louis classified as “local” that are often residential/neighborhood streets. They typically have posted speed limits of 25 mph and less than 2,000 vehicles per day. Calm Streets will not be built on streets that are snow routes; have steep roadway grades of 8% or higher; have a high concentration of busses; or present difficulty for emergency service vehicles.
Q: When will Calm Streets be built?
A: The City of St. Louis has one Calm Street on Des Peres Ave. We do not know when more Calm Streets will be built. In the shorter term the City is working to build pilot Calm Streets. The partnership is working to secure funds to plan a citywide Calm Streets network that would become part of the Bike St. Louis network.
Q: Who will build Calm Streets?
A: Calm Streets will be built on City of St. Louis streets and the City is therefore responsible for construction.
Q: Would a Calm Streets network be separate from the Bike St. Louis network?
A: There is currently one Calm Street, Des Peres Ave., and it is part of the Bike St. Louis network. Future Calm Streets would be added to the Bike St. Louis network.
Q: How will the construction and maintenance costs of Calm Streets be funded?
A: Bikeway construction and maintenance costs are often covered by a variety of funding streams. Calm Streets construction could be funded by federal Transportation Improvement Program grants, one-half cent ward capital funding, or other public/private sources. The Calm Streets Project Committee is working with the City of St. Louis to develop a plan for covering maintenance costs based on best practices from other cities.
Find out more details about The Calm Streets Project here.
What do Calm Streets look like?
Salvation Army Earn-a-Bike Class
Last Thursday evening, seven graduates of Trailnet’s Earn-a-Bike class hopped on their brand new bikes and took to the streets around Benton Park. For several of the novice cyclists, this was their first opportunity to utilize their signaling, scanning, and lane positioning skills. All completed the ride with flying colors.
The Earn-a-Bike class met for four sessions at the Salvation Army on Arsenal and was taught by Trailnet’s Rachel Sleeman, assisted by Ginny McDonald. Participants in the class learned about bike parts and tools, how to remove wheels and fix a flat, and how to load a bicycle onto a Metro St. Louis bus rack. The course also covered Missouri traffic law that pertains to cyclists, clothing and accessories that make biking more comfortable, and techniques for carrying groceries and gear for commuting by bike. Students were individually fitted for their bicycles and helmets, and each received a lock to secure their new bicycle.
The participants, who ranged in age from sixteen to sixty, came to the class with varying levels of experience and with different expectations for how they would use their bicycle. Kieth Miles was a big help to the instructors, having used a bike for many years for transportation, and already handy with tools and techniques of basic maintenance. GiGi, who is also a veteran cyclist, plans on using her bicycle for grocery shopping and errands. Both commented that they could get to most of their normal destinations more quickly on a bicycle than by car and that it was also a healthier way to travel.
Trailnet brought speakers from across the Midwest to participate in Streets for Everyone: Improving the Pedestrian Experience. The workshop, funded by the Laclede Group Foundation, was attended by sixty-five local professionals, including transportation planners, elected officials, academics, and public works employees. Discussions focused on how to design and build walkable communities and attempt to integrate a pedestrian perspective to help create a more walkable St. Louis. There is heightened concern for pedestrian safety in St. Louis because of recent statistics reflecting risks to pedestrians in the City: between 2006-2010, the City of St. Louis reported 1,800 pedestrian‐related motor vehicle crashes. These numbers have put St. Louis on the Federal Highway Adminstration’s list of Focus Cities, which identifies cities with the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities and severe crashes. The City of St. Louis, the Federal Highway Administration, the Missouri Department of Transportation, and other partners have drafted a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP) to help guide the region on how to reduce pedestrian related crashes in the City.
Where do we go from here?
Trailnet is excited to begin this dialogue around making the City attractive and safe for pedestrians and we hope that you will join us in this campaign. Working with local and regional partners, Trailnet will host a Walk Summit in 2015. The Walk Summit will serve as a call to action for community members, activists and organizers, elected officials, engineers, and transportation professionals to integrate the pedestrian perspective into their work and call for safe solutions to roadways that rank most dangerous for walkers. Adopting the PSAP will be an important first step in creating more pedestrian friendly roads in St. Louis.
How you can help
Be part of the effort to create a more walkable St. Louis by collecting data on pedestrian activity. Stand up and count as a volunteer at the 3rd Annual Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts next week.
100 Miles of New & Upgraded Bike Routes in St. Louis City
Bike St. Louis Phase III implementation begins this week! Phase III includes 40 miles of new bike routes and upgrades to 60 miles of existing bike routes in St. Louis City. This project started with the Gateway Bike Plan in 2009, an intensive 16-month process to plan future bike routes throughout the three county metropolitan region in Missouri.
Trailnet was 1 of 15 stakeholder groups that participated on the Phase III Advisory Committee hosted by Great Rivers Greenway District. We surveyed our members in Fall 2013 to define problem areas and priority locations for bicycling, and received almost 900 responses. We then rode the problem areas with advocates and elected officials to seek out creative solutions, and used this feedback to advocate for high quality infrastructure.
Types of bike routes
Our goal is Streets for Everyone – safe and continuous routes that connect residents to jobs, schools, parks and other major destinations, regardless of age or ability. Trailnet advocated for high-quality, family-friendly routes throughout the planning process. Click herefor a map and listing of new and upgraded routes.
Funding
Phase III is a $1.4 million project, primarily funded with federal transportation dollars. A local match was provided by Great Rivers Greenway District and St. Louis City with existing sales tax revenue. Any municipality is able to apply for federal funds for projects like Phase III. East West Gateway is currently taking comments for the 2015 funding cycle.
Stay tuned for more details! We’ll be following the street crews and posting pictures of the new routes on social media and look forward to hearing your feedback. Please post your pics to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – let’s celebrate this investment in bicycling!
Old Frenchtown Bicycle Tour
One of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, Soulard is known to many residents for its plentiful restaurants and bars, and Obtoberfest and Mardi Gras festivals. Weaving through the tree-lined streets and courtyards in the neighborhood, Harold Karabel lead a group of fifteen cyclists on a tour of Soulard and the adjacent LaSalle Park neighborhood on August 23. As always, Harold provided a fascinating commentary that highlighted some of the architectural gems of the area, explained the area’s long and colorful history, and showed photographs of how specific sites in the neighborhood had changed over the years.
Stops on the tour ranged from tiny stone houses, to brick row houses, to several of the massive churches that soar over the neighborhoods. These churches are a tangible reflection of the area’s cultural past, having been built by the early German, Czech, and Lebanese immigrant communities who settled in the area. The tour also made a stop at Soulard Farmer’s Market, the oldest farmer’s market west of the Mississippi, which has been in continuous operation since the late eighteenth century.
The final stop on the tour was LaBerta and Sons Cycles at 1007 Russell Boulevard. Matt LaBerta has provided eco-sag support for Trailnet’s Community Bicycle Tours for the past two seasons. Riders got a chance to admire the latest frame that Matt is constructing, have a guided tour of the shop by his sons, and received much appreciated ice water.
Trailnet is grateful to George Dennis of the Church of St. Vincent DePaul, who opened restrooms, provided ice, and a shaded pavilion for our ride’s starting point. Many thanks to Harold for his enthusiasm, knowledge, dedication to the city, and ability to locate shade as temperatures neared 100. Thanks to Matt, Mylo and Mason, who almost had a carefree morning, until a rider got a flat at our last stop. Finally, thanks to the cyclists and volunteers who braved the heat to join in on the tour. This tour was funded, in part, by Great Rivers Greenway District.
With funding from the 
Rachel Sleeman, assisted by Ginny McDonald. Participants in the class learned about bike parts and tools, how to remove wheels and fix a flat, and how to load a bicycle onto a 
class with varying levels of experience and with different expectations for how they would use their bicycle. Kieth Miles was a big help to the instructors, having used a bike for many years for transportation, and already handy with tools and techniques of basic maintenance. GiGi, who is also a veteran cyclist, plans on using her bicycle for grocery shopping and errands. Both commented that they could get to most of their normal destinations more quickly on a bicycle than by car and that it was also a healthier way to travel.
