PERRY COUNTIANS GET BIKE ROUTE CHANGED

Bike riding along U.S. 61 in Perry County might not offer the serenity and beauty a trip along Routes H and C offers, but it will be a lot safer.

The decision by the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Division of Tourism to relocate the Mississippi River National Bike Trail from Routes H and C to U.S. 61 in the interest of safety was a wise one.

The people of Perry County knew how dangerous bike riding along those secondary roads is because of the heavy truck traffic and lack of shoulders. Some 600 of them petitioned for the change after the state didn't listen to earlier pleas not to direct bicycles along Routes H and C.

Many of the trucks that travel Routes H and C are logging trucks going to and from East Perry Lumber Co., whose management, aware of potential dangers, wisely led the opposition against the trail on those highways. Signs marking the trail now will have to be moved to U.S. 61.

The state should have listened to the safety pleas to begin with, but at least it finally recognized them.