River crossings

The St. Louis area is traversed by two major rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi. Several of the highway bridges across these rivers are posted to exclude bicycles. It has therefore been difficult to use a bicycle for many trips which require a river crossing.

The situation is improving. Some bridges do permit bicycle travel, and the number of these bridges is increasing. The MetroLink light rail system carries bicycles during all hours of operation. MetroLink crosses the Mississippi River at the Eads Bridge, which connects downtown St. Louis with East St. Louis.

Mississippi River bridges

Bridges are described here in order from south to north.

Jefferson Barracks Bridge

It is my understanding that bicyclists regularly use this bridge, and that Missouri authorities have no problem with this; however, Illinois authorities prohibit bicycling on the connecting highways. Bicyclists typically exit at the first offramp on the Illinois side, but must enter by walking down an embankment from a farm-to-market road.

I-70 (Bernard F. Dickman) Bridge

This bridge is a little less than a mile to the south of the Gateway Arch and central St. Louis. Martin Pion describes it as "a real hodge-podge of intersecting and diverging high speed interstate traffic lanes, a nightmare to navigate if you're at all unfamiliar with the area. This is not at all suitable for bike traffic." It is conceivable that bicycle traffic could be accommodated on the shoulders, however, if bicycle paths to and from them were provided.

Eads Bridge .

The Eads Bridge between downtown St. Louis and East St. Louis is currently being reconstructed to accommodate bicycle travel. The bridge will have 13-foot outside lanes on and 5-foot sidewalk. Bicyclists will be permitted on the roadway. The Eads bridge already carries a MetroLink rapid transit line, which transports bicycles.

The photo, above, shows the Eads Bridge in the process of reconstruction. The additional width being provided for the sidewalk is visible at the right side of the bridge.

Dr. Martin Luther King Bridge (photo below)

McKinley Bridge (photo below)

(This bridge was closed to the public in November, 2001, due to its unsafe condition.)

About 1 mile north of the Martin Luther King Bridge is the McKinley Toll Bridge with wider lanes, two in each direction, and a 30 mph speed limit.

In practice, speeds are much higher than this, and the road surface is generally very rough. Martin Pion, who shot the video sequence from which the photo (above) is taken, reports that this is not a bridge a cyclist would want to use, despite the lanes' being wider than on the Martin Luther King Bridge. He also reports that while measuring the lanes at the end of the bridge, a bridge employee drove up and escorted him and his bike off, saying no bikes were allowed. He measured the outside lanes, separated by the bridge trusses, as 12' 5" curb-to-curb (where the curb wasn't missing], and the inside lanes as 11' 5", separated by a double yellow line.

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge

This is the former Route 66 highway bridge, about 9 miles north of central St. Louis. It is no longer used for motor traffic, as it has been superseded by the nearby I-270 bridge. It is currently being renovated for use as a bicycle and pedestrian bridge.

I-270 Bridge

This major Interstate Highway bridge, about 1 mile north of the Old Chain of Rocks bridge, currently excludes bicycle traffic, though it is my understanding that its shoulder widths are suitable for bicycle travel.

Missouri River bridges

Lewis and Clark Boulevard

The first bridge encountered going west along the Missouri is the Lewis bridge running N-S, followed by the new Clark suspension bridge into Alton, Illinois (photo above). This bridge carries 55 mph traffic in four traffic lanes. Beyond the outside lanes in each direction is a striped divider and unidirectional bike lane.

Highway 370 Bridge The Highway 370 Bridge across the Missouri River is built to Interstate standards, and bicycle travel is allowed on the shoulders of this bridge. Access is either by the usual vehicular ramps or by short bicycle paths which connect the bridge shoulders to local roads. The photo below shows the path access to the westbound shoulder of the bridge. This bridge, importantly for touring bicyclists, provides access to the terminus of the Katy Trail in St. Charles.

I-70 Bridge The Blanchette Memorial Bridge connecting the I-70 to St. Charles, is south of the Highway 370 Bridge and is oriented roughly east and west. Bicycles are currently excluded from this bridge.

Recommendations:

• Allow bicycle travel on shoulders of limited-access highway bridges where access to the ends of the bridge can be provided (or exists on ramps that do not require merges across traffic) and wide shoulders make this practical. This approach has already been used successfully on Lewis and Clark Boulevard and on the Highway 370 bridge. Shoulders built to Interstate Highway standards have proven reasonably safe for bicycle travel, and 18 states permit bicycle travel on Interstate highway shoulders. Sometimes, it is necessary to build access paths to the ends of a bridge, but nonetheless, this very low-cost solution to access problems is warranted even when bicycle traffic volume is low. Shoulder access would even make sense, for example, on I-270 bridge across the Mississippi, though the Old Chain of Rocks bridge is near the I-270 bridge. For bicyclists with destinations north of I-270, the travel distance would be reduced by about two miles.

• Develop cooperation between Missouri and Illinois authorities about bicyclists' use of shoulders on Interstate bridges. Missouri is clearly the leader in this area. The important point to be made about this access provision to reluctant Illinois authorities is that the wide shoulders are acceptably safe, and that they are a no-cost, convenient solution to access problems for the relatively few bicyclists who would use them.

• Supplement bridge access with access via public transit and vanpools. This topic will be taken up at length in the section of the report on multimodal travel. The MetroLink rapid transit system, and seven bus lines, already carry bicycles.

• Accommodate bicycle use in future bridge construction and renovation. The renovation of the Eads bridge shows that the St. Louis area already is thinking along these lines.

• Plan to recycle disused highway and railroad bridges. The Old Chain of Rocks bridge is an excellent example of a bridge "recycled" for bicycle use. If other bridges present similar opportunities, these opportunities should be taken. This applies not only to bridges across the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, but also to those which traverse smaller watercourses and other geographic barriers.

• Be mindful of personal security and traffic safety issues on long bicycle/pedestrian bridges and bridge sidewalks. In addition to the traffic safety issues that occur on bicycle paths (see bicycle path section of this report), there are issues of personal security, especially at night. These issues can be addressed by police patrols and overhead lighting, and by accommodating bicyclists on the roadway or shoulder rather than or in addition to a separate bicycle/pedestrian bridge or sidewalk. During my stay in St. Louis, it was also explained to me that concession booths were set up on the Old Chain of the Rocks bridge for one public event. Such use of a bridge leads to disorganized traffic movements and should be discouraged.

• Maintenance is important. Trash tends to accumulate on shoulders or bike lanes outside the path of motor traffic. These require regular sweeping so that the risk of flat tires does not become excessive.