Apple Valley is an old suburb designed during the the era when cul de sacs and large feeder roads to distant malls was considered the ultimate in suburban living. Bicycling was an afterthought and, for the most part, still is. There are plenty of bike paths in this sprawling city, but most run in the right-of-way of heavily traveled, noisy thoroughfares like Pilot Knob Road and Lexington Ave. The trails, built 15 to 20 years ago, are showing their age.  A spiderweb of weed-filled cracks run the entire length of some of the trails.

During one brief flurry of building activity Apple Valley developed a suburban style “downtown” with plantings, colored pavers and other amenities designed to create a central gathering spot for city residents. The effect is more pleasant than a typical mall, but the auto is still king and getting to “Downtown” by bike is a chancy endeavor for all except the most experienced and traffic savvy riders.

That said, the city is negotiable by bike. By combining indirect residential streets and the trails mentioned above, you can get close to almost any part of the city. I saw a surprising number of riders during a mid-August weekend. Most were riding the weedy trails mentioned above. Apple Valley has a few short trails running through parks, but they are mostly access trails and not worth seeking out for a recreational ride.

For me, part of bike route research is following instincts and researching dead end roads. I’ve frequently found connecting bike trails and useful additions to the map in unexpected places. The Pine Bend Cemetery is one of those surprises. It won’t add anything to the Twin Cities Bike Map, but it is a fascinating find.

I found it by following a suggestion from Dave Olson, my most trusted bike route adviser in the Twin Cities. He was the first to tell me about the new bike trail along Concord Blvd in S. St. Paul and the potential for a connector via the frontage road heading south along Hwy 55. The connector works well, providing a quick exit from Downtown St. Paul towards the Three Rivers Refinery and points to the SE.  My hope, however, was to get all the way to Spring Lake Regional Park and eventually to Hastings, so I slipped past a “Road Closed” sign just to see what was further south.

The road ended at Pine Bend Cemetery, an oasis of tall trees, ankle high grass and the thin white  tombstones that date cemeteries to the 1850s and 1860s.  The white limestone or marble was used extensively in the 1850s because it was easy to carve, but rain slowly dissolves the rock. Later tombstones were made from more durable granite.

Pine Bend Cemetery is about half the size of a football field and only half of the grounds have tombstones and a semi-maintained look. It is fairly typical for old, rural towns, but Pine Bend has been absorbed by the city. Hwy 55 makes a very noisy, and close, neighbor and the refinery looms large across the highway.

That juxtaposition, of a rural cemetery and the noisy trappings of modern society, pulled me back to the cemetery a couple of days later to take photos and wander the grounds.

Had I been able to just look toward the back of the cemetery and block out the traffic noise, I would have lingered longer, but the noise from the highway and the smell of the refinery drove me away. I moved on, but in my mind I still carry that rural cemetery image of a quiet, shaded oasis.

The suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been building bike trails for a number of years. Early on, most of the trails were nothing more than asphalt sidewalks next to busy roads. The cities have gotten more creative since then.

Woodbury and Maple Grove have developed an extensive trail system through the back yards of the residents. The yards in question are very large and they back up to the neighbor’s yard, creating a long green corridor. In traditional grid cities, the border between the yards is reserved for an alley and often a corridor for power lines. Woodbury and Maple Grove use the border for bike trails. The concept is sound, but I see very little use of the trails, except near the city parks. Apparently most residents prefer to load their bikes onto a car rack and drive to a park for riding, even if the trail through their backyard goes to the same location.  I find the trails to be quite generic, primarily because the yards are generic. It would be more interesting if a portion of those large backyards were converted into interesting plantings such as prairie grasses, woodlots or flower gardens. It would also help if the trails were signed with maps and directional signs.

Shakopee uses the same basic concept, with the dual purpose of catching and directing water run off . The water flows over grasses that slow it and allow it to soak into the ground. Unlike Woodbury and Maple Grove, the public portion of the corridor is wider than the bike path providing a close-to-home open space for children and families to use. As a result, the trail and corridor are used more heavily. It would be nice, however, if the corridor had more texture and color. Shakopee has institutionalized the grass monoculture. The entire corridor is uniformly green, short and weed free, a sign that the look is maintained using a mix of herbicides and fertilizer.

Cottage Grove went for color. A large portion of the main bike trail is being restored as a hybrid prairie with lots of prairie flowers and a few native prairie grasses. The effect is a riot of color and texture during the summer, when residents use the trail most heavily. Yards are smaller in Cottage Grove, and often more interesting, because the owners have created flower and vegetable gardens. They’re most noticeable when entering or leaving the trail system via one of the access trails.

Shakopee and Prior Lake took advantage of natural green spaces by building paths and boardwalks through wetlands, around the edges of lakes and through valleys. The effect is very soothing although the boardwalks can create anxiety. They are narrow and the surface is often uneven. Some riders should walk their bikes on the boardwalks. The boardwalks also require ongoing maintenance. The trail through Dean Lake Nature Preserve, for example, was severely narrowed by a recent mowing that wasn’t followed up with a sweep of the path and wetland plants grew up through the boards of the boardwalk.

Adventure Cycling has been working with the US Department of Transportation to develop a system of marked bike routes across the state. One of the proposed routes would run from Winona Minnesota to the Lake Ferry in Milwaukee, using mostly bike trails to cross Wisconsin (including the Great River Trail, the LaCrosse River Trail, the Sparta-Elroy Trail, the 400 Trail, and the Glacial Drumlin Trail. (Some time ago, I posted a description of much of this route on my web site.)

For discussions of the overall project click here for the US Department of Transportation and here for Adventure Cycling. It appears from a map of the proposed system that the proposed Wisconsin segment is part of proposed route 30, which will run west through Minneapolis to beyond Billings and east, after cross the lake, to Detroit.

A number of states, particularly in the Northeast now have marked and numbered long-distance bicycle routes. In the 1970s, Wisconsin pioneered with two routes, one from LaCrosse to Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha, and the second running north from LaCrosse to Lake Superior. At some point these routes were abandoned as attention turned more to developing bike trails, particularly on abandoned railroad lines.

Upper Midwest riders have recognized the incredible roads of SW Wisconsin for decades, but in the last few days the word has gotten out to a wider population. In its bid for the 2014 Olympics, Chicago’s Olympic Committee picked a route around Blue Mounds State Park, west of Madison for the challenging terrain and the low traffic roads according to the New York Times. Chicago lost out, but cyclists can still ride the route. For a complete guide to the roads in the area, check the Madison and Dane County Bike Map.

Another national publication, Adventure Cycling, featured Trempealeau County, along the Mississippi River as another cyclist’s destination.

A story in this morning’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that construction has finally started on the extension of the Beer Line Trail that would follow the Milwaukee River from North Avenue to Locust Street. For several years, the trail came to a dead end in a field shortly after crossing under the North Avenue bridge.

In addition to the bridge over Capitol Drive in Shorewood which is presently being replaced, the trail in Estabrook park is presently closed because of reconstruction of the Estabrook Parkway and the Milwaukee River Parkway is also closed for construction, closing the trail that runs next to it. Probably the most direct detour is to follow Wilson Drive north from Capitol, continuing on Santa Monica Boulevard. Then go west on Bender to rejoin the Oak Leaf trail (see the Milwaukee map for details).

Terry McGaughey, the force behind development and support of the Paul Bunyan Trail near Brainerd, MN died recently at age 71. His first involvement with the trail began in 1983 and he is remembered for his tireless efforts to bring the trail to completion and expansion. He worked effectively with everyone from local city council members to representative Jim Oberstar in the US House of Representatives.

Although I never met Terry in person, it seemed as if I was always seeing his name or hearing about his efforts on behalf of the Paul Bunyan Trail. Have Fun Biking ran this story about him in a recent newsletter. The Paul Bunyan Trail is a featured trail in Bicycle Vacation Guide.

An on-line article published by Milwaukee Magazine describes a proposal for a new national wildlife refuge straddling the state line and covering parts of Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties in Wisconsin and Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois. The proposed refuge would cover much of the lower left-hand corner of the southeast Wisconsin bike map. It would stretch from the Bong recreational area on the east to the area south of Lake Geneva on the west.

This is prime bicycling country, surprisingly undeveloped considering the nearby urban areas. Thus, the proposal seems like good news for bicyclist (unless, of course, it results in more traffic).

Milwaukee recently issued a draft of a bicycle plan prepared with the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation. The public comment period runs through the end of July. Clearly the plan is a sign that bicycles are getting a lot more attention in planning transportation in Milwaukee. Here are my comments on the plan:

Bike boulevards. I really like the concept. I think they will do a lot to encourage people to bike (and also strengthen neighborhoods). With that in mind, here are a few more suggestions:

* An east-side alternative to the Prospect/Farwell bike lanes (which
have fairly fast traffic and are often blocked by double-parked
delivery vehicles). Starting at the Urban Ecology Center, it would
go south on Newhall, then switch over to Warren, ending at Ogden.
I took it home from the public meeting. It had little traffic. The
major issues are crossing Brady and North. Also the one-way
streets north of Brady.
* Jefferson St. between the Third Ward and Ogden/Water. Already
interrupted in several places. The sidewalks need to be widened.
Perhaps a place for a cycle track. The tunnel under I794 is narrow
when pedestrians are walking to parking.
* 51st St on the south side. Already has many of the properties of a
bike boulevard with the interruptions at the KK Parkway, the
Morgan/Forest Home triangle, and in Greenfield. A place where joint
planning with Greenfield and West Allis would be useful.
* Keefe/Townsend from Humboldt to Dineen Park

I real bike desert is the far northwest side. I would hope that at least one of the north-south roads connecting to Mequon would be marked for future improvement, with decent shoulders at the very least.

While Roosevelt Blvd itself is very nice, both ends are problematic. Perhaps this is a place where the bicyclist could be directed to use the sidewalk (as in Madison and Evanston). In any case, I think a bike plan should not leave a bicyclist hanging.

I am bothered by the number of proposed bike paths that are shown as existing (also a problem with the free bike map). These include the Beer Line trail between North and Locust and between Locust and Burleigh, the KK trail (page 24 describes it as existing) along Rosedale, several proposed branches of the Hank Aaron trail (as well as HAST routes on roads), and a proposed rail conversion south of Washington. Perhaps these should be converted to yellow on the maps, so it is clear they are proposed trails (perhaps proposed county trails could also be shown, to see how they would fit in, as well as any proposals from suburbs).

I would like to see more discussion on the effect of traffic signals on bicyclists. Particular problems are inaccessible walk buttons (or ones that don’t work), buried sensors that don’t detect bicycles (all of them, in my experience), and the very long signal cycle time that seems standard in Wisconsin. (I recently spent a few days bicycling in Chico, CA and was struck that the typical signal seemed less than half that in Milwaukee. There was much less temptation to run the light. A signal on a trail went to yellow for the cars as soon as I pushed it.)