MU bike trail makes the town-and-gown connection

verything was in place. Campus Facilities’ Construction Management unit was ready for the contractor to hoist a bridge over Hinkson Creek and bring MU’s three-year-old Bike Trail Project that much closer to completion this fall.

But then the matter of the minnows surfaced. A habitat survey by the Missouri Department of Conservation brought up the issue of the breeding season of a particular minnow in the creek, which threatened once more to throw the completion of the trail into 2002.

“The crane needed to set the bridge would actually set up in the creek, causing a disturbance in the creek bed,” said Bob Berg, construction project manager. “The hold directive given to the contractor by the Department of Natural Resources would allow the minnow to spawn but delayed progress until late last month.”

Accomodating the bats

Ron Libbert, of Schneider Excavating, prepares the east approach to the Hinkson Creek bridge abutment.

Prior to the minnows were delays caused by the nesting habits of migratory Indiana gray bats.

“The bat nests in the loose bark of trees in the area,” said Berg. “We, of course, accommodated these creatures and then had only a small window of time last fall during which Landscape Services could remove the trees before the bats returned in April and May.”

Heavy spring rains caused further delay, keeping the creek’s silt level high — prolonging the fish-breeding period — and saturating trail areas cleared earlier. Equipment sat idle as crews waited for the creek to clear and the ground to dry.

Construction, however, is back on track. The fish breeding season is over, bats are nesting elsewhere and the ground is workable.

Final construction on this Phase Two of the Bike Trail will see a 190-foot clear-spanned truss bridge, measuring 18 feet tall at its midsection and 10 feet tall at its ends, spanning Hinkson Creek, and the remaining mile of the trail surfaced from Epple Field west to where it joins the city’s M K T Trail. Truckloads of filler dirt will be brought in to form a grade from the creek bottoms to the surface of the M K T Trail.

The Hearnes Center Trail Head

Phase One, completed last year, starts at the bus shelter in the Hearnes Center visitors’ parking lot and runs southwest downhill to under Providence Road and then past the Research Park area on Old Route K to Epple Field. Most of the trail is asphalt with a yellow center line dividing it for two-lane traffic.

“Even though the first part of the trail drops from the Hearnes Center to Providence Road, the trail does not exceed a five percent grade,” said Larry Edwards, director of CF’s Facilities Management, “and meets A D A standards for wheelchair accessibility.”

Phase Three runs more than a mile from Providence Road east through the Hinkson Recreation area and connects to the city’s Grindstone-Capen Trail now under construction.

“Construction here will be quicker because there aren’t any bridges, and should be completed by the end of the summer,” said Berg.

Phase Four, beginning at the Student Recreation Center, is routed over existing streets through the Stadium Road tunnel and Faurot Field parking lot, and along Mick Deaver Drive to the Hearnes Center parking lot. Construction Services will widen sidewalks where necessary, and an asphalt lane is being built along the west side of the drive as part of Planning, Design and Construction’s 2001 summer paving project.

More than a bike trail: the green belt system

MU’s bike trail is part and parcel of the City of Columbia’s long-range plan for bike and walking trails within a green-belt system encircling the city. The Bear Creek green belt north of town will connect to the Perche Creek section west of Columbia and to the Hinkson Creek green belt running north and south east of town. MU’s bike trail not only completes the circuit across south Columbia, but also connects the system to the M K T Trail.

The work years ago of a now-defunct faculty, staff and student subcommittee of the Campus Planning Committee resulted in the design of the trail route and the securing of funds from the Missouri Department of Transportation to cover 60 percent of its cost. MU’s Parking and Transportation provided the remaining funds.

“The trail we have now is more than a bike trail,” said Edwards. “It’s a multi-use trail, meandering through beautiful sections of the campus and south Columbia. It’s suitable for biking, walking, jogging, and wheelchair use. Commuters will ultimately be able to bike to campus. Anytime a bike is used means that one more parking space is freed up, which helps with traffic and parking on campus.”