The Growth of the Cycling Community in St. Louis

It was spring of 2005 when Bike St. Louis unveiled 20 miles of continuous on-street bicycle route.  Since that time, the Great Rivers Greenway District has helped opened 57 additional miles routes through St. Louis County and St. Louis City. With the expansion, the Bike St. Louis system now totals 77 miles of dedicated bike lanes and shared traffic lanes. Map of routes is available (here).

It all started according to the Bike St. Louis website:

The idea came from then Alderman Lewis Reed and Congressman Russ Carnahan, long-time friends and cyclists who felt it was time to create a way to connect the parks in the City for cyclists and to provide safe commuter route options.

St. Louis has come a long way since 2005 and continues to move forward with more bike lanes and cyclist friendly routes.  As evidence of the increase in awareness of the role that cyclists play in St. Louis, South Grand is considering additional improvements for cyclists and there are plans to open city streets for foot and bike traffic.

There has also been a lot more organization by cyclists in the community.  Organizations such has the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation help coordinate bike related activities and work on projects such as the Bike Parking Demonstration Project which will install at least 100 new bike racks around St. Louis city and county.  Organizations and groups such as the Banana Bike Brigade, BWORKS, St. Louis Cycling Club, and Trailnet all have benefited our community immensely.

 

Additionally, events such as the Annual Moonlight Ramble bring  cyclists from all around the community Downtown.  Also the Tour of Missouri and Gateway Cup have introduced the St. Louis community to some of the best of bike races in the Midwest and even the United States.

 

With the continued growth to bike trails in St. Louis businesses have met the demand by offering bike rentals including: Big Shark Bicycle Company, Gateway Arch Riverfront Bike Rentals, Maplewood Bicycle, Momentum Cycles – St. Charles, Touring Cyclist, and World’s Fair Bike Rental – Forest Park.  There are even pedicab services with St. Louis Rickshaw and St. Louis 3Wheel Taxi.

As you can see from all the organizations, events and businesses in St. Louis, cyclists continue to become a essential part of the social fabric and culture of our community.  People have continued to learn to appreciate the serenity of a bike ride and health benefits of regular cycling.  With additional of dedicated bike lanes and bike friendly streets, St. Louis will continue to make the progress that we have seen since 2005 when the community came together to create Bike St. Louis.

Posted by The Core Editor on Sep 23 2009. Filed under Community, Feature Story, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.