Ayd Mill bike trail is back on!
September 10th, 2009 | Published in general | 1 Comment
This trail has been several years in the works, and has been on and off the table more often than a cat at breakfast. Finally, it appears, we have a solid GO for it, and I’m looking forward to it, though i might be the only one using it.
PioneerPress article | Strib article
The Strib article is a little incomplete, inferring (to at least one paranoid commenter) that the city will be taking away road or rails to build the trail, which isn’t true. You have only to drive down Ayd Mill road to see the wide expanse of right-of-way betwixt road and rail to see where it’ll go. The space in question isn’t even usable by the railroad in most places, as it’s behind a line of trees.
I’m the first to admit that it’s an odd duck of a trail. It doesn’t seem to go anywhere important, it’s not replacing a widely-used bike route, and no matter the mode of transportation, there aren’t that many people traveling between the Midway and southern West 7th neighborhoods (besides me). The big benefit to this trail will be the connections it allows.
When you look at a map of the area, you can see that Ayd Mill crosses or is near Marshall and Summit, both well-used east-west bike routes. At the south end there is an easy connection to the Shephard road trail. It will also serve as a great inter-neighborhood trail, with easy connections to shopping at several points. Way to go, St. Paul.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:30 pm (#)
I think you will be far from the only person who uses this trail. If it ends up being directly connected to the Greenway, which it sounds like they’re planning, there will be a lot of people using it as a thoroughfare from Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul. I will certainly use it since the proposed end of the path is just a few blocks from Grace’s school – I can see us riding bikes to and from school.