Trailnet, with support from Great Rivers Greenway, is participating in the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project for the fourth consecutive September. As we continue to collect data each year, we will be able to show changes in bicycling and pedestrian activity. This information is essential for planning and infrastructure projects that will help to make St. Louis a better place to live. With volunteer support last year, we counted over 4,000 bicyclists and pedestrians at 75 locations throughout the St. Louis region.
Want to help with this important project? Click here for details. To sign up, click here.
Volunteers will be eligible to win four Cardinals Tickets! They’re great seats too—in the home field box, section 151, row 10.
St. Louisans are fortunate to enjoy lush greenspace in our numerous parks, fine food offered through restaurants and a growing fleet of food trucks, a vibrant art and music scene, and a champion baseball team. These many assets are clouded by statistics that rank St. Louis as one of the most dangerous cities in the country for pedestrians. In the U.S. as a whole, 12 percent of lethal traffic accidents involve pedestrians. This number compares to 14 percent in Europe and 25 percent in China. In St. Louis, 36 percent of fatal accidents affect pedestrians. In the first six months of 2015, 15 pedestrians were killed in the city of St. Louis, many in hit-and-run incidents. These sobering statistics earned St. Louis a designation as a Focus City by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, joining 21 other U.S. cities in which pedestrian deaths are higher than the national average.
A number of factors have contributed to creating this risky environment for pedestrians, most notably road designs that prioritize automobiles over pedestrian safety, and excessive speed of car traffic. Statistics indicate that pedestrians struck by cars travelling at 20 miles per hour generally suffer minor injuries and fatalities are below 10 percent. As speeds increase, the risk to pedestrians involved in collisions rises dramatically: at 30 mph, 45 percent of pedestrians who are struck suffer fatal injuries; when struck by a car traveling above 40 mph, pedestrian mortality increases to 80 percent.
Trailnet was recently awarded a Plan4Health grant in collaboration with the HEAL Partnership to improve the safety of pedestrians in the city of St. Louis. Our efforts will begin with community meetings in the Ville, Greater Ville, Carondelet, Dutchtown, and Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhoods to learn about residents’ concerns about pedestrian safety. These meetings will be followed by walk audits and “pop-up traffic calming” demonstrations in the neighborhoods. Traffic-calming measures help to decrease vehicle speeds and provide refuges for pedestrians. These measures include infrastructure changes such as speed bumps, roundabouts and pedestrian islands.
Trailnet’s Lucky’s Ride puts you on some of the most scenic sections of the Katy Trail. The three-day cycling and camping adventure starts with a kickoff celebration at the Lucky’s in Ellisville. From there, participants hop on our bus to the Lucky’s Market in Columbia. From Columbia, we’re in for all sorts of fun, music, food, and camping.
If that’s not enough to get you in the saddle for a few days, this event is your opportunity to raise money for educating local youth on the importance of leading a healthy, active lifestyle. Sharing Trailnet’s devotion to building vibrant, healthy, and active communities, Lucky’s Market has committed to support Trailnet’s Youth Programming, matching rider contributions dollar-for-dollar up to a total of $10,000.
Let’s get this campaign rolling and see if we can make it to $10,000 before the start of the ride!
Click here for details about this great adventure.
Trailnet to offer League of American Bicyclists Instructor Seminar
The League of American Bicyclists is a national organization that advocates for bicyclists in a variety of ways. To further their work, they offer training seminars that certify individuals as League Cycling Instructors (LCIs). If you would like to learn more about Missouri bicycle laws, basic bike maintenance, and safe riding skills, this seminar can help to improve your own biking experience, and more importantly, make you a valuable resource for other bicyclists. Trailnet is hosting a League Cycling Instructor seminar on October 16-18. After completing this training and receiving your LCI certification, you will be eligible to teach bike education classes in your community. Click here for details about the seminar. E-mail or call Ginny McDonald at ginny@trailnet.org or 314-436-1324 ext.131 for more information.
Kirkwood City Council Accepts Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan
At a meeting on May 7, the Kirkwood City Council voted to accept the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. You can view or download the plan here.
Trailnet would like thank the Planning Advisory Committee and all of the residents that helped shape the plan through their input and comments. The exemplary dedication of the residents, elected officials, and staff of Kirkwood strengthened the planning process.
Froebel Literacy Academy Spring Field Day
A rainy day did not dampen students’ enthusiasm for the May 20 Field Day at Froebel Literacy Academy in the Dutchtown neighborhood. Children ranging from pre-school through fifth grade participated in a variety of activities coordinated by school staff and community partners, including Trailnet.
Students and teachers enjoyed smoothies produced by Trailnet’s pedal-powered “bike blender.” One after another the kids lined up, taking turns spinning their legs to swirl the fresh fruit and juices. Even those with legs too short to reach the pedals eagerly mounted the bicycle while Trailnet staff helped out by manually turning the cranks.
Waves of children rotated through a circuit of activities in the building, including basketball in the gym and scooter races in the hallways. Trailnet offered a version of musical chairs that involved student leaders parading through traffic cones and leading buddies through a “crosswalk” set up in the cafeteria. Each student received a poem stressing the importance of “using your head before your feet” while walking in the neighborhood. The poems were entered into raffles for sunglasses, flashing safety lights, and “footie” bracelets.
Trailnet has partnered with Froebel for the past two years, organizing a variety of activities aimed at improving pedestrian safety around the school. These activities have included Walk to School Days, an after school “Walk Ambassadors” program for Froebel’s Leadership students, and surveys soliciting parent input about transportation in the neighborhood.
Trailnet also recently completed a traffic study of the area surrounding the school in order to outline recommendations for infrastructure and behavioral changes that will improve pedestrian safety. One issue cited by the traffic study was the lack of a crosswalk and stop sign at the school’s front entrance where many parents drop off and pick up their children.
Before leaving, Trailnet presented the school with a portable stop sign, safety cones, reflective vests and hand-held stop signs. This equipment will be used to improve safety at the drop-off area and by crossing guards at nearby intersections. Trailnet thanks Mr. Von Smith, Froebel’s Family and Community Specialist, and Anne Thomas, Academic Instructional Coach, for an ongoing partnership that has been highly rewarding and lots of fun. We also thank the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Dana Brown Charitable Trust, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, the Saigh Foundation and Wells Fargo Advisors for funding our work in Dutchtown.
Spring Earn A Bike Class
Richard Palk will use his new wheels to commute to work in downtown St. Louis
The Pink House, a Community Arts Space in Pagedale, was the site of our most recent Earn a Bike class. Six students, ranging in age from thirteen to twenty-nine, met on Friday evenings from March 20th through April 10th. During the five week program, they learned about bike tools and clothing, basic maintenance and Missouri bicycle laws. Students gained practical experience in shifting gears, using their brakes properly and riding safely and confidently on city streets. By going through the program, each student earned a brand new bicycle from the Ferguson Bicycle Shop, individually-fitted and with life-time free tune-ups. Students also received a lock, helmet, and a blinking rear light.
Prior to taking the class, all of the students relied upon public transit or walking to get where they needed to go. Three of the six students will be using their bicycles to get to school; the other three class members will be using their bicycles to commute to their jobs.
On the last evening of class, students and instructors rode on neighborhood streets to the St. Vincent Greenway, a great place to celebrate their new wheels. On the night he received his bicycle, class participant Jay Mitchell rode his bike from Pagedale through downtown to the riverfront and back. He said he was having such a great time that he completely lost track of time, and before he knew it the sun was starting to rise.
Pink House Director, Gina Martinez, reports that she often sees Earn a Bike graduates pass by on their bikes en route to work or school.Trailnet thanks all of the students for their enthusiastic participation and wishes them many miles of safe and fun riding. Thanks also to Gerry Noll of the Ferguson Bike Shop for custom fitting the bikes. Trailnet’s bike education programs are funded byBeyond Housing and the Trio Foundation. For more information about Trailnet’s bicycle education programs and upcoming class offerings, click here.
Century Club Riders
Five of Trailnet’s 2015 BFC rides included century routes. In addition, there were five opportunities for century routes on our non-profit partner rides. Below are lists of riders who completed centuries for each of these events:
For information about the Century Club, click here.
Forty tweed-clad bicyclists rode through the neighborhoods surrounding Tower Grove Park on Saturday morning, enjoying spring blooms and several of the architectural gems that grace the area.
The tour wound its way through Tower Grove Park, visiting the Christopher Columbus statue (one of few examples in the world of the explorer sporting a beard), and the stone ruins salvaged from the Lindell Hotel that sit at the edge of the park’s central pond.
The ride ended at The London Tea Room, where many members of the group enjoyed Afternoon Tea and lunch (don’t miss their tomato soup and croissants).
Many thanks to LaBerta and Sons Cycles for providing eco-SAG support, to Michael Allen for choosing our destinations and sharing his seemingly limitless knowledge of the area, and to Mark Axe and Peter Wollenberg for the great photographs. Trailnet thanks The London Tea Room not only for providing delicious food and a variety of fancy teas to riders, but also for donating part of the proceeds from their sales to Trailnet.
Help make sure that Congress doesn’t cut the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) funding in the next transportation bill. TAP helps local communities build sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes, trails and more. TAP funding supports Safe Routes to School initiatives throughout St. Louis City and County.
Without TAP, hundreds of millions of dollars used to improve streets for walking and biking would evaporate. Some of these funds have been used to support youth programs like Trailnet’s “Steps in the Right Direction” at Froebel Literacy Academy to help make walking and biking a way of life in St. Louis.
Please follow the link below to ask Senators Roy Blunt and Senator Claire McCaskill to support bill S. 705, the Transportation Alternatives Program Improvement Act. Thank you for supporting legislation that will keep our youth walking and biking safely.
