PETITION OPPOSES ROUTE OF BICYCLE TAIL IN PERRY

PERRY COUNTY -- Some residents of Perry County are circulating a petition in opposition to making Highways C and H in Perry County part of the 2,000-mile bicycle route called the Mississippi River Trail.

The petition reads in part: "Because of the sharp turns, hills, lack of shoulders, volume of traffic, and narrow lanes and bridges, it would be a safety hazard to bicyclists and motorists."

The winding, often hilly road has no shoulder.

"Everybody in the county is concerned about the safety factor," said Stan Petzoldt, a Frohna resident and manager at East Perry Lumber Company, who is among those circulating the petition.

He said the informal group circulating the petition intends to hand it in to state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and to state Rep. Pat Naeger, R-Perryville, "probably in a couple of weeks."

Support for the petition drive is hardly unamimous, however.

Velma Brown, who lives in Perry County near St. Mary on Highway H, agrees that the road is dangerous, but it isn't the bicyclists who are the problem, she said.

"It's the trailer trucks," Brown said. "The trucks don't drive 55 mph. They pass you at 70 or 75 mph. They're not going to do anything about stopping that."

Bicyclists would be safe if the truckers would obey the speed limit, she said.

An unscientific survey of residents living along Highways H and C from St. Mary to Frohna who answered their doors Sunday found people about evenly divided between opponents and supporters of the bicycle trail route. Nearly everyone said fewer bicyclists have traveled down Highways H and C this summer than last.

Mark L'Hote, who farms more than 650 acres of corn and soybeans along Highway C near the former town of Belgique in the river's flood plain, signed the petition.

Tall weeds line that section of the road most of the way, obscuring motorists' and bicylists' line of sight. In addition, "Six- and eight-wheel corn headers take up the whole side of the road. You've got no room. What's going to happen when you go around a corner and meet someone? You can't stop a load of corn on a dime."

Arnold "Pat" Luehrs, the postmaster of Brazeau and a Farrar resident, declined to sign the petition but doesn't count himself as a supporter of the bicycle route either. When he encounters bicyclists on the road, Luehrs said he slows down until he can safely pass them. But he does wonder about the safety.

"There is no good place for them," he said.

The Missouri Department of Transportation just put up the signs marking the trail in August. In Missouri, it runs from the ferry at Ste. Genevieve to the Dorena ferry in Mississippi County.

The brainchild of the Memphis-based Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission, the trail is slated to extend through seven states from Ste. Genevieve to New Orleans.

Missouri is the second state to mark its section of the trail. Tennessee was the first, and Kentucky expects to mark its segment this month. Plans call for marking the entire trail by next summer.

Petzoldt and others have called for moving the Perry County part of the trail from Highways H and C west to follow U.S. Highway 61. Bicyclists contend that Highway 61 with its heavier traffic and gravel shoulders is more dangerous and less scenic.

When the Transportation Department announced that it was going ahead with the trail over the objections heard in Perry County, it said it would include warning signs where the trail might be most hazardous. Those signs are not yet up.

Scott Meyer, district engineer of the Missouri Department of Transportation, said his department will monitor the trail, evaluate its safety and possibly make revisions. The department has no plans to add pavement to the roads.

Jeff Leible of Brazeau signed the petition but said he has mixed feelings about the trail. He said tourists on bicycles will spend some money in the area and give a small boost to its economy. But he fears they might cause accidents on the narrow roads.

One opponent is Monica Herman of Frohna. "You just can't see around (the curves) because of the shape of the road and the vegetation," she said. "I'm thinking about the trucks. A car can make adjustments."

Wanda Weibrecht of Crosstown said she enjoys seeing bicycles on the road and just wants motorists to slow down.

Mack Via, who lives near St. Mary, said he'll be upset if the state moves the trail from in front of his home. He said he invites bicyclists to his house for water and even keeps an air compressor handy in case someone needs air.

The trail "not only induces tourism, it induces nice people, friendliness," he said. "They're friendly and come and say hi."

Petzoldt said he has nothing against the bicyclists but is only concerned for their safety. "It's a dangerous situation," he said.

The Mississippi River Trail route follows U.S. Highway 61 south from Ste. Genevieve to Highway H in St. Mary, then takes Highway H to Missouri Route 51 and jogs over to Route C.

The trail follows Route C to U.S. Highway 61 near Pocahontas, then Highway 61 to Highway 177 in Cape Girardeau County to Route V to avoid the Procter & Gamble plant, then goes to Missouri Route 177 near Trail of Tears State Park and into Cape Girardeau.

It exits Cape Girardeau on Route K, goes south through Chaffee and down Route 77 to Charleston, then onto Route 102 to Dorena and crosses the ferry into Kentucky.

It is marked by signs that say MRT and have a bicycle logo.