Woodward Elementary School gets new traffic calming features
In the fall of 2015, the Missouri Chapter of the American Planning Association collaborated with Trailnet, the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Partnership, the City of St. Louis, the Missouri Public Health Association, and community residents to tackle the concern of traffic-related deaths by hosting four pop-up traffic calming demonstrations within the City of St. Louis through the Plan4Health program.
Plan4Health connects communities across the country, funding work at the intersection of planning and public health. Anchored by the American Planning Association (APA) and the American Public Health Association (APHA), Plan4Health supports creative partnerships to build sustainable, cross-sector coalitions.
The successful demonstrations implemented by Trailnet showcased proven methods of slowing traffic and increasing safety with traffic calming designs. The demonstrations were used to educate community members, elected officials, and city staff on how we can work together to create safer, more vibrant, and healthier communities. These educational events have the potential to influence policy change for better street design.
Further, the demonstrations help visualize safer streets, which can lead to healthier communities and encourage active lifestyles. They are also an opportunity for the community to come together and start a dialogue on how we can work together to improve our street designs.
Through the positive conversations spurred by the pop-up traffic calming demonstration, Trailnet worked with BJC School Outreach and Youth Development to plan permanent street design changes by Woodward Elementary School with the City of St. Louis. The location was chosen to increase visibility and safety of the children and families crossing the street to travel to and from school on foot. The changes included an updated crosswalk, curb ramps, a bump out, and stop lines to enhance the crosswalk by the school. The improvements were funded by the Missouri Foundation For Health’s Healthy Schools Healthy Communities program.
Trailnet celebrated the permanent changes at a ribbon-cutting event hosted by the BJC School Outreach and Youth Development staff. The pop-up traffic calming demonstrations led to positive change within the community in under one year! This achievement would not have happened without the support of all those that have been involved with the project. Trailnet is excited to continue to promote safer street designs by using pop-up traffic calming demonstrations.
To learn more about the program please contact Trailnet at planning@trailnet.org.
If you look up the word “sag” in Webster’s dictionary, you will find this definition: “to hang down in the middle especially because of weight or weakness.” That definition might apply to some bicyclists, but for most, the word is an acronym for Support And Gear. Trailnet can thank Stewart Drolet for providing some of our most reliable and versatile SAG services.
His work with Trailnet is not the first time that Stewart has taken his mechanical skills on the road. After owning a bike shop in his hometown of O’Fallon, Illinois from 1994 through 2004, he started a traveling bike repair service, working out of a 16-foot step van. He describes one of his successful forays into mobile bike repair:
“I got together with a guy in St. Louis who put the word out to all of the tenants in his apartment building – I worked on the bikes all day and when people got home, their bikes were ready to go,” Stewart said. “I really liked that but eventually the truck died.”
In his current job, Stewart works on airplanes instead of bikes, but he continues to get his bike “fix” through his work as a Bicycle Fun Club SAG driver.
“I really enjoy all of the people, I like being outside and I love fixing things,” Stuart said. “I like being able to see something that’s broken work again. We get a lot of people that are doing 100 miles for the first time because they have the support. Lots of these folks just wouldn’t feel confident doing it on their own.”
Many bicyclists that participate in these rides may not realize the commitment of time and energy given by the SAG drivers. “I usually leave the house by 5 a.m. to start putting water out so it’s ready for the early riders,” Stewart said. “I bring my own tools and repair stand. Between doing repairs, moving supplies around, and picking up riders, you keep really busy all day. Even though SAG support usually ends at 3 p.m., you still have to collect everything, so you may not finish until six in the evening.”
The repairs Stewart makes range from airing up tires, to adjusting brakes and derailleurs. His most complicated fix was completely rebuilding a rider’s wheel that had become “untensioned” within a few miles of the start. His most frequent task is fixing flat tires.
“I had a group come in who had three flats on the same tire between downtown and the Chain of Rocks Bridge,” he said. “When I checked it out, I found a wire stuck in the tire. They were surprised that they kept getting flats with such a ‘small hole.’”
In addition to his mechanical expertise, Stewart uses his skills as a photographer to benefit Trailnet. He frequently volunteers his time taking photos at Trailnet events, and occasionally takes photos on the rides. Stewart also does his part to spread the word about Trailnet on the Illinois side of the river. He lets his friends and co-workers know about Trailnet events and encourages them to go on the rides.
As for himself, Stewart said he has too many work and family obligations to bike these days. But he remembers always being into bikes, and introduced his daughter to biking when she was an infant.
“When I had the bicycle shop, my daughter came to work with me,” he said. “I would pull her to work in my bike trailer and take her on any errands that I had.”
Stewart believes that encouraging more kids to bicycle should be a focus for Trailnet. He was pleased to hear that Trailnet has “Bike Weeks” planned at three area schools this fall: two in Kirkwood and one in south St. Louis. Stewart said he’s happy his daughter still rides a bicycle and hopes that Trailnet will be able to “teach more kids about bike safety and give them opportunities to ride – do outreach to more schools and maybe even provide loaner bikes. If kids got a chance to ride, maybe they would ask for a bike for Christmas instead of a video game.”
Murmuration Festival Bike Valet
Trailnet will be providing free, secure bike parking at the Murmuration Festival in the Cortex Innovation Community September 23 through 25. This three-day event, named after the patterns produced by flocks of starlings in flight, celebrates the intersection of music, art, science and technology.
Show your support for active transportation and check out this exciting event. Volunteers receive a t-shirt and a single-day music pass (good for the day of your shift). Water and snacks will be provided at the bike valet station.
Celebrate Labor Day weekend by listening to great music and making it easy for people to ride their bikes to the Big Muddy Blues Festival. This year’s festival will be even bigger and better, and we’ll be providing free bike valet for all of the cool people who will be biking to the Landing.
Sign up here to volunteer on Saturday, Sept. 3. Volunteers receive a FREE PASS to the festival (Saturday only).
Plan on riding your bike? We’ll meet at Big Daddy’s in Soulard for a “slow roll” down to Laclede’s Landing. Click here for info.
Counters needed to help St. Louis become an even better place to walk and ride!
We need YOU to help us count people walking and biking at locations throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County. Volunteers commit to using a pen and paper (we’ll email you a standard counting form) to count at one street location from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13, Wednesday, September 14, or both days. Only one person is needed per count location, but feel free to bring a friend, family member, neighbor, or pet for counting company. In case of rain, counts will be done the following week on September 20 and 21.
As we continue to collect bicycle and pedestrian data each year, we are able to show changes in how people walk and bike around the St. Louis region. Last year, volunteers counted more than 9,000 people walking and biking at 60 locations!
Volunteers are especially needed to count in St. Charles County, North St. Louis County, Mid St. Louis County, South St. Louis County and North St. Louis City. Counts in all areas of the St. Louis region help to paint a more complete picture of where people are using walking and biking routes and where better planning for new routes and encouragement and education programs are needed. Click here to see a map of all count locations.
Will you consider counting in an area you have never been before? Bring a lawn chair and get comfortable as you help make St. Louis an even better place to walk and bicycle!
Once you have completed the count, scan or take a picture of the form with your phone and email your completed counting form to taylor@trailnet.org, or drop the paper copy in the mail to Trailnet Attn: Taylor 411 North 10th Street., Suite 202 St. Louis, MO 63101.
All volunteers who submit a completed counting form are eligible to win an Apple iPad!
Optional volunteer training will be held on September 7, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Trailnet’s office (411 North 10th Street., Suite 202 St. Louis, MO 63101). To sign up as a counting volunteer, click here.
Dwayne James loves creating opportunities for people to challenge themselves and succeed at things they never thought they could accomplish. As a Ferguson City Council member, he worked closely with Trailnet’s Healthy Active and Vibrant Communities Initiative from 2008- 2013 to develop Live Well Ferguson, which organizes a variety of community events that bring people together for fun and exercise. Seven years ago, Live Well Ferguson organized the first Ferguson Twilight Run, an annual event that now draws up to two thousand participants.
“The first year we thought we might get 50 people to show up—we ended up with 900 people,” Dwayne said. “We get everyone from little kids, to seasoned runners, to those using a cane to walk the 5K. We’re telling people to show up however you are, as long as you do it. It’s not just good for the individuals or families, it’s good for the whole community because the community comes together and shines.”
Other annual events sponsored by Live Well Ferguson include the Twilight Ramble bicycle ride, and Sunday Parkways, an opportunity for residents to walk, bike and play on streets closed to car traffic.
Live Well Ferguson also promotes healthy food choices through Eat Well Ferguson, a program that provides nutritional information at participating local restaurants, and by offering garden plots at three community garden sites. Dwayne worked with several other residents to craft an ordinance creating the community gardens and conveyed his own excitement as a novice gardener.
“We wanted to do something positive with the empty lots that we had around town,” he said. “The great thing about community gardens is that people get out there to work and neighbors meet each other for the first time…they might live four doors apart but never knew each other. I grew my first cucumber – I was so excited! I just wanted to save it, but I had to eat it eventually.”
Another early goal of Live Well Ferguson was to craft Complete Streets legislation for Ferguson. Dwayne spearheaded this effort in 2008, making Ferguson one of the first communities in the region to pass Complete Streets.
“I am a civil engineer, so streets and infrastructure were things that I had in my back pocket,” Dwayne said. “We were already on a path to build a healthier, more active community, and I knew that designing streets that were safe for all users would be a great asset.”
Having served the maximum number of terms on the City Council, Dwayne is no longer a member, but is still an enthusiastic organizer of Live Well events and is also a Board Member of the Ferguson Youth Initiative.
FYI provides Ferguson teens with a welcoming space where they have access to activities, computers, and adult volunteers who provide tutoring. It also coordinates youth programs with other organizations, like the YMCA, Ferguson Parks and Recreation, and local schools and churches. Most importantly, FYI helped to create a Youth Advisory Board. This group of 10 teens provides a youth perspective on city issues, and gives young people a chance to participate in local government. Dwayne emphasizes the value of the Youth Board for the city as well as the teens who serve.
“It allows them to have a voice and empowers them to do things for themselves,” he said. “It also helps city officials understand what is important to our young people and ways that we can all work together to solve problems.”
Having lived in Ferguson for most of his life, Dwayne is familiar with its struggles, but positive about its future.
“We have people moving into the community, businesses that are growing, citizens stepping up to serve on the council,” Dwayne said. “Ferguson youth are doing amazing things. The schools are graduating some spectacular kids. If you don’t know the good and bad aspects of your community, then you’re not involved. I love Ferguson, I love North County, I love St. Louis. I know that there is lots of work to be done and it’s the entire community that makes things happen. There’s the person who steps up to volunteer, the person who comes out to an event and cheers the runners on, or even the resident who says ‘I’m ok with them shutting down my street to hold this event.’ I have faith in my community and know that working together we will continue to make great things happen.”
Mayor Slay Signs City Traffic Calming Ordinance
Trailnet’s work to show city officials and residents the look, feel, and benefits of traffic calming solutions has paid off! Now that Mayor Slay has signed the City of St. Louis Traffic Calming Policyinto law, there will be a growing number of slower, safer residential streets in St. Louis.
This diagram shows the process that will be followed by the City’s Aldermen, Street Department, and Board of Public Service (BPS) to request, evaluate and install traffic calming improvements to residential streets. Most traffic calming improvements involve speed humps (less abrupt than speed bumps) and narrowed streets that reduce the speed of motor-vehicle traffic and improve safety for people who walk and bike.
South County Connector Project: Truly Dead
The Post-Dispatch got it on record recently: the proposed $120 million “South County Connector” project, intended to link I-55 with I-44 and I-64, has been “permanently shelved” by St. Louis County. Over several years, Trailnet vigorously organized opposition to this project for environmental, economic, and historic preservation reasons.
We worked with many others in this battle, including elected officials like county councilman Pat Dolan, St. Louis alderman Scott Ogilvie, city leaders in Maplewood, Webster Groves, and Shrewsbury, as well as institutions like the Washington University School of Law and non-profits such as Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Sierra Club and the River DesPeres Watershed Coalition.
Although the County declared the project to be “on hold” in November 2014, we realized there was a chance it could resurface. Now, almost two years later, we can declare victory knowing that “permanently shelved” means the South County Connector is really, truly dead.
Trailnet Walk Bike Ambassadors Are Rocking It!
Trailnet’s 12 Walk Bike Ambassadors are located throughout the St. Louis region. They assist with Trailnet advocacy campaigns and events, and help address walking and biking issues in their own communities. For example, Don Orf, our Ambassador in the City’s St. Louis Hills neighborhood, has been working with Alderwoman Donna Baringer, the Streets Department, and the St. Louis Hills Neighborhood Association on Complete Streets improvements. These improvements involve street re-design, repaving, and restriping to reduce traffic lanes from four to two, add bike lanes, and create angle parking along beautiful Francis Park. Other improvements around Francis Park will provide easier pedestrian crossings and generally contribute to slower, safer traffic. Don has recently become the chair of the streets committee for his neighborhood association. He has also informed his neighbors about street improvements, his role as a Walk Bike Ambassador, and upcoming Trailnet activities through his neighborhood newsletter and the social media site for neighborhoods, NextDoor. (Don also took a few days in April to ride 210 miles of the Katy Trail – wow!)
Margie Oliver of Hazelwood is working with Trailnet and public officials in her community to bring a Complete Streets presentation before the City Council. Her goal is to see Hazelwood adopt a Complete Streets policy and become the 10th jurisdiction in the St. Louis region to do so. Margie also investigated an upcoming county road project in her area to determine how bicycle and pedestrian traffic would be accommodated. And for a bit of fun and Trailnet outreach before summer turns to fall, Margie has arranged for Trailnet to have a booth at the September 10th Harvest Festival in Hazelwood. She and her fellow Walk Bike Ambassadors will be there to tell festival-goers all the good things Trailnet is doing for better walking and biking, and encourage them to join us!
Dean Wette enjoys challenging himself by setting personal goals. When he got into bicycling three years ago, he wanted to maximize the number of miles he put in the saddle. Averaging 150 to 200 miles per week, he has bicycled more than 6,000 miles each year. He rode 15 centuries in 2015, some of them on Trailnet BFC and nonprofit partner rides, qualifying Dean as a Trailnet Century Club member.
Riding 15 centuries in a year is an accomplishment he shares with several of his friends, demonstrating the physical challenge involved as well as the camaraderie he enjoys in cycling. Although he loves the social aspects of bicycling, Dean found himself riding solo a couple of years ago, noting, “I wanted to see if I could ride a hundred miles in all sub-freezing temperatures. I got 70 miles in at 24 degrees, but then the roads got so slick from snow that I had to stop.”
So what could be so great about being on a bike that Dean braves frigid temperatures and spends so many hours rolling on two wheels?
Climbing in Augusta during Big Shark’s 2016 Vino Fondo Mondo ride. Photo: Kim Morris, kimmorris.com
“It’s just fun!” he said. “You never really know where you live until you get on a bike. You can explore the entire metropolitan area. There’s just no way to really experience things if you’re in a car, and if you are a runner or walker, you just can’t cover the miles that you can on a bike.”
Most of the miles Dean rides are for recreation, although he did participate in Bike to Work Day this year, completing a 40-mile round trip commute. He and his wife do almost all of the Trailnet BFC rides every year.
“They bring cyclists of all capabilities together,” Dean said of Trailnet’s events, adding, “It shows them that there is a real community that they can belong to.”
In addition to his participation in the BFC rides, Dean is a strong supporter of Trailnet’s Advocacy work.
“Trailnet has done a lot to make St. Louis safer for bicyclists,” he said.
Going forward, Dean believes Trailnet’s most important contributions will be to educate drivers and bicyclists about safely sharing the road. Although he appreciates efforts to increase the number of bike lanes in the region, he believes these infrastructure changes should be met with education and maintenance.
“If a bike lane has bad pavement or a lot of debris, I won’t use it,” he said. “So the drivers get confused when they see a bike lane and I’m not in it. And ‘sharrows’ are even worse – drivers don’t know what they mean. All of this should be covered in driver’s ed and questions should be included on the driver’s test.”
Because issues sometimes come up with drivers and even with law enforcement, Dean carries Trailnet’s “Missouri Bicycle Law” cards with him when he rides.
“Sometimes drivers will tell me that I should be on the sidewalk, so I have the card to show them that that is not only unsafe, but also illegal,” he said.
Dean also sees bicyclists doing things that compromise safety:
“I still see cyclists riding in the wrong direction, on sidewalks, or desperately hugging the white line on streets when there isn’t enough room for cars to pass safely—in which case the cyclist should be taking the full lane,” Dean said. “I see a lot of bicycle commuters riding as if they’re just unwelcome guests on the road. I see it differently: I’m not blocking traffic, I am traffic!”
For this year, Dean will be seeking out routes with lots of hills. His current goal is to become a better climber. His abilities will be put to the test at the end of July, when he and his wife travel to Colorado to ride in the mountains with Dean’s brother. Dean credits bicycling for greatly improving his own health and is also amazed at the benefits of cycling for his brother, who has Parkinson’s disease.
“When I got back into riding three years ago, I had a diagnosis of pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension,” Dean said. “I wanted to get healthy without medication. It worked. I now have great blood pressure and my blood sugar dropped down to ideal levels. Cycling also nearly eliminated my chronic lower back pain, got me off medication for high cholesterol and helped get my allergies under control, not to mention reducing stress in my life. For my brother, bicycling has really helped to control his symptoms, and has allowed him to live a more normal life.”
In the fall of 2015, the Missouri Chapter of the American Planning Association collaborated with Trailnet, the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Partnership, the City of St. Louis, the Missouri Public Health Association, and community residents to tackle the concern of traffic-related deaths by hosting four pop-up traffic calming demonstrations within the City of St. Louis through the Plan4Health program.
Plan4Health connects communities across the country, funding work at the intersection of planning and public health. Anchored by the American Planning Association (APA) and the American Public Health Association (APHA), Plan4Health supports creative partnerships to build sustainable, cross-sector coalitions.
Through the positive conversations spurred by the pop-up traffic calming demonstration, Trailnet worked with BJC School Outreach and Youth Development to plan permanent street design changes by Woodward Elementary School with the City of St. Louis. The location was chosen to increase visibility and safety of the children and families crossing the street to travel to and from school on foot. The changes included an updated crosswalk, curb ramps, a bump out, and stop lines to enhance the crosswalk by the school. The improvements were funded by the Missouri Foundation For Health’s Healthy Schools Healthy Communities program.
For the fifth year in a row, Trailnet and 
Another early goal of Live Well Ferguson was to craft 
Trailnet’s 12 Walk Bike Ambassadors are located throughout the St. Louis region. They assist with Trailnet advocacy campaigns and events, and help address walking and biking issues in their own communities. For example, 
