{bike lane on Page Avenue bridge can be seen to the left)

So MODOT's considering adding a bike lane to the Jefferson City Bridge across the Missouri River. It's a good idea. The bike lane would connect the very popular Katy Trail, which runs from St. Louis to Kansas City, to Jefferson City. The Katy Trail has enjoyed good support from the Missouri State House and continue to garner interest.

The bike lane would be similar to what can been seen on Page Avenue across the Missouri River near St. Charles that connects Creve Coeur Lake and the surrounding area to the Katy Trail. And while there's no doubt that a bike lane over the Missouri at Jefferson City is a good addition, it begs the question of what could be done with $7M to accommodate more bicycles in our state's population centers. Dedicated bike lanes? More covered bike racks? What if $7M more of the $500M+ spent on the "New I-64" were spent to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians?


{rending of Jefferson City Bridge bike lane from mobikefed.org}

The bike path appears a bit narrow in this rendering. Let's hope that any path would be a bit more accommodating than this small image depicts.