Missouri Bicycling, Walking, Running, and Trails News (2024)

Tue, 10/02/2012 - 11:04am

One of MoBikeFed's top priorities in our has been to encourage the state to bridge major barriers--like the Missouri River--for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Nowhere is that more important than in the Katy Trail communities--many of which were historically separated from the Katy Trail by the Missouri River.

After decades of work, all of the major communities along the Katy Trail are connected to the trail in one way or another--except for Washington, MO.

And now the City of Washington, in cooperation with the Regional Planning Commission and encouraged by MoDOT, is about to take the first step to connect the city to the trail.

The Hwy 47 Bridge at Washington--High traffic, narrow lanes, no shoulder

Fri, 09/28/2012 - 1:13pm

On September 25th, 1974, the first triathlon was held at Mission Bay in San Diego. Jack Johnston was one of the organizers of this seminal event, and tells the story on RunthePlanet.com:

Tue, 09/25/2012 - 5:22pm

Last week we received the proof of the final design for the Bicycle Missouri license plates, printed by the same process the manufacturer will use to create the real plates when manufacturing starts in a couple of weeks.

Here's what the plates will look like on your car:

After receiving the proof, we mailed them back to the Department withour final approval to proceed with the manufacturing. There are still a couple of layers of final internal approvals at the Department of Revenue before the Department starts to process the 225 plate applications we submitted to them in August.

We are estimating that will take a couple of weeks. And for those of you who haven't yet ordered a plate, it opens up an opportunity: If you order now--by October 8th--you can still receive your plate with the first group EVER to receive the historic Bicycle Missouri license plate.

We've been working on this plate since 2005--so now that we are so close to getting them, don't miss your chance to be part of the first group!

Order your plates here.

Tue, 09/25/2012 - 9:27am

You want to organize a Walk to School event at your local school. What are the steps you should take?

October is Walk to School month in Missouri, and schools across the state hold Walk to School Day events.

The Three Essentials:

Mon, 09/24/2012 - 9:28am

October is Walk to School month in Missouri, and schools across the state hold Walk to School Day events.

Last year, we had the most Missouri schools ever participate in Walk to School Day, with 59 schools participating from every part of the state. Let's make 2012 even better!

Fri, 09/14/2012 - 9:58am

Brian Phillips of Grantland has written a fascinating story about Edward Payson Weston, who became a major sports figure in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by dint of his pedestrianism--taking astonishingly long walks, often in competition with others:

In his 20s and 30s, he somehow became one of the most celebrated athletes in the English-speaking world despite the fact that he was physically unprepossessing — 5-foot-7, 130 pounds, with a body resembling "a baked potato stuck with two toothpicks," as one journalist wrote — and that his one athletic talent was walking. Just straight-up walking made Weston, for a while, probably the biggest sports star on earth. . . .

Weston's athletic career started with two things: an insane bet, and the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States. During the 1860 campaign, Weston bet his friend George Eddy that Lincoln would never win the White House. If he lost the bet, Weston would have to walk the 478 miles from the Massachusetts State House in Boston to Washington, D.C., to watch the inauguration. . . .

Fri, 09/07/2012 - 10:18am

MODOT Safe Routes to School Coordinator Jeff Cremer forwarded the following announcement yesterday:

Tue, 08/28/2012 - 11:11am

Notes from the August 28th, 2012, meeting of the Missouri Safe Routes to School Coalition. This meeting covered two main topics:

• Planning a Walk to School Day at your school - presenter Meg McFarland of Briarcliff Elementary
• MoDOT announces new SRTS grant round for fall 2012 - presenter Jeff Cremer of MoDOT

Below are brief notes from the meeting. If you'd like more information, follow the links provided or contact the presenters or Missouri Safe Routes to School Coalition Organizer Brent Hugh, director@mobikefed.org

Meeting Notes - 28 August 2012, by teleconference

0. Introductions

1. Organizing your own Walk to School Day - Meg McFarland, Briarcliff Elementary
Contact: mmcfarland1@kc.rr.com

Walk to School Day - Oct 3

Walk to School Month - October

Meg's presentation online:http://mobikefed.org/sites/default/files/Briarcliff-Walk-to-School-Day-Presentation-2012.pdf

Mon, 08/27/2012 - 9:27pm

The Rolla Daily News covered the story of a procession of bicyclists, walkers, and runners who took part in the funeral procession for Lisa Persicke, who was killed August 19th while running on Historic Route 66:

The family of St. James resident Lisa Persicke, 44, who was killed Aug. 19 after being struck by a vehicle while jogging on Historic Route 66, asked several runners and cyclists to take part in Persicke’s funeral procession in St. James Friday not only as a memorial but also to show the community the number of unmotorized folks out on the road.

A large crowd of walkers, runners and cyclists leave the parking lot of James and Gahr Mortuary in St. James Friday to take part in the procession.

Mon, 08/27/2012 - 2:55pm

Featured guest for this month's Missouri Safe Routes to School Coalition conference call is Meg McFarland of Briarcliff Elementary.

Meg isone of the state's pioneers in Safe Routes to School and Walk to School Day programs.

Meg has organized the Walk to School Day event at Briarcliff Elementary in Kansas City for several years. Meg will talk about how she organizes and promotes Walk to School Day at Briarcliff and give us all some tips about organizing our own local walk to school days.

Download Meg's Powerpoint Presentation

• Powerpoint format (ppt)
• Acrobat format (pdf)

More resources for organizing your local Walk to School Day

Wed, 08/22/2012 - 10:03am

Last week the Missouri Association of Councils of Government, the Pioneer Trails Regional Planning Commission, and MoBikeFed teamed up to host two Action 2020 workshops in Missouri.

The workshops, presented by Advocacy Advance, brought elected officials, city and agency staff, and advocates together to learn about federal transportation funding, the recently passed MAP-21 federal transportation bill, and how to build bicycling and walking into Missouri cities and towns.

Today the Matt Wempe of the League of American Bicyclists (who along with the Alliance for Biking and Walking make up the Advocacy Advance partnership) wrote a blog post about the Action 2020 Workshops in Missouri:

Wed, 08/22/2012 - 3:19am

Missouri has no fewer than SEVEN cross-country bicycle routes--each of them just a small part of a much longer national bicycle route--plus ONE cross-state route, plus ONE more cross-country bicycle route not yet complete or release yet, but currently under development.

Have you ever seen all eight of these cross-country and cross-state routes (plus the one new route under development) all mapped together?

You can find out much more about all the routes on our . Here is a quick summary: