A team of Spire volunteers constructed an all new walking and biking path on the property of Bayless Elementary School this summer!
The project was the result of a collaboration between Trailnet, Spire and Bayless Schools, funded by Spire Serves and carried out by volunteers through Spire’s Day for Good program.
The trail will connect the surrounding neighborhood with the school and provide awesome opportunities for bike education and recreation for Bayless students.
“We love opportunities like this,” said George Godat, Vice President and General Manager MoEast at Spire. “We provide opportunities for our employees to do a day of good in the community each year, and we also have dollars that we put into the community. Trailnet was able to apply for some funds from our Spire Serves program. We gave them $10,000 to provide the materials and labor, then our team came out and got to work. It was the perfect partnership for us and something we’re really excited about.”
Thanks to the Spire Team for cranking out a beautiful path that will result in years of recreation and bike education for our young neighbors!
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.
Through the end of July, the planning team will be at public events in Des Peres to gather input on walking and bicycling in the community, and find what residents value when it comes to transportation. The input will be used to guide the creation of a Des Peres Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.
At these outreach events, you can talk to the planning team about walking and biking in Des Peres, what’s working, what isn’t, and how you would like to see walking and biking enhanced over the next 15 years. Outreach events will have maps, surveys, and comment cards to capture your thoughts and suggestions. The planning team will be available at the following events; please come out and talk to them about the future of walking and biking in Des Peres.
An online survey may be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DesPeres; it is also available on paper at the Des Peres City Hall and at the tabling events
University City Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
University city has a rich history that is reflected in its current assets and amenities; its location as an innerring suburb and its interconnected street grid presents unique opportunities for enhancing walking and biking for transportation, recreation and fitnss. In an effort to move University City towards being one of the most sustainable cities in the St. Louis Metropolitan region, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan builds upon University City’s outstanding historic character and seeks to provides viable transportation options for all residents.
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan is a partnership between The City of University City and Trailnet. It is funded through a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation and supports the goals of the Mayor’s Task Force on Bike and Walk-ability by providing recommendations and design options to promote equity in mobility for all University City residents, regardless of their age, income, or ability. The planning process took place over the course of 14 months and included regular meetings with the Mayor’s Task Force on Bike and Walk-ability, Steering Committee, Stakeholder Interviews, two Public Workshops, and special workshops with City staff, Commissioners, and elected officials.
The Full Plan: Click on the Images below. The plan is divided into two parts.
