Federal transportation bill includes $25 million for Columbia biking trails

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- At 72, Mayor Darwin Hindman is a passionate cyclist and daily commuter on the city's growing network of bicycle trails. He soon could have plenty of company.

The transportation bill passed by Congress last week includes $25 million for this mid-Missouri city to add bike lanes, sidewalks, walking trails and other urban pathways designed to get people out of their cars. Boosters envision an extensive trails network that could elevate Columbia to the status of such pedal-conscious cities as Boulder, Colo., Madison, Wis., and Portland, Ore.

"Twenty-five million dollars in a town the size of Columbia and at this point in our growth could be very dramatic," said Chip Cooper, chairman of The PedNet Coalition, a group of locals that promotes non-motorized transportation. "This could really put us on the map as one of America's healthiest communities."

Should the massive spending bill approved by Congress be signed into law by President Bush, as he has promised, Columbia will receive $5 million annually over the next five years to bolster its bike paths.

Current trails link the city's downtown and the University of Missouri-Columbia campus to the Katy Trail, which follows an abandoned rail line from east to west for 225 miles across the state. While the particulars of the federal support must still be worked out, Hindman, Cooper and others envision a 20- to 30-mile loop encircling the city.

The trail network's benefits to Columbia's collective waistline and heart rate is obvious. But foremost, the expansion project should be viewed as a mass transit project, said Hindman.

"This is not a recreational trails project," the mayor said. "This is a transportation project."

Better trails can also offer economic benefits, said Cooper, noting the appeal to well-to-do retirees as well as high-tech employees and the "knowledge workers" attracted by the state's flagship university.

"Columbia has no mountains, beaches and oceans, nor recreational lakes, but we do have a beautiful and gently rolling terrain that lends itself to a quality bike/ped/wheelchair network," Cooper wrote in a PedNet position paper.

Columbia is one of four cities nationwide selected as pilot sites for non-motorized transportation projects, said Sen. Kit Bond, who as chairman of a Senate transportation subcommittee helped steer the nearly $300 billion federal highway bill to passage. He did not identify the other cities selected.

"The city of Columbia has long been a leader in supporting alternate means of transportation," Bond said.

The federal grant might seem like a lot of cash, but Hindman said it's a drop in the bucket compared to the billions spent through the years for four-lane highways and other asphalt excesses.

"We're trying to make up for years and years of neglect," he said.