With three more sections of St. Joseph’s hiking and biking trail system set to open later this summer, things are looking up for recreational bicyclists and those trying to save money.

“We’ve seen commuter cycling go up, like, 1,000 percent,” said Sean Force, owner of Forces of Nature Cycling & Outdoors. “Before, it would have been for exercise, but now we actually see those trails becoming more of a link across the city for people going to and from work.”

Nearly four miles of family-friendly hiking/biking trails in all will be added to the existing network of concrete paths that generally parallel parts of the city’s renowned parkway system. The additions, which began with some clearing work last fall, have been delayed by a harsh winter and early spring.

“We pulled the trigger on all three phases at roughly the same time, and if we didn’t have a rough winter, we’d have been about done right now,” said Andy Clements of the City of St. Joseph’s public works department.

Clements said that a little more than a mile is being added along Corby Pond to near 18th St. (Maple Leaf Parkway). An eastern section of around two miles — a combination of three different phases — follows the old railroad bed out to Riverside Road, and includes a bridge that will be placed over the Belt Highway later this month. Nearly all of the concrete work has been completed in the third phase, a little more than a half mile along Southwest Parkway from 11th St. Road southward to Mansfield Road.

Although the large, blue sign at the north end of the Southwest Parkway project proclaims completion by Spring of 2008, Clements said it will likely be the first section to open next month. The Corby Pond trail project still needs some earthwork done and is roughly one-third complete, he said.

Total costs for the three extension projects is $3.37 million, with much of the cost coming from federal transportation grants. The Southwest Parkway project, however, was funded fully by St. Joseph voters on a 2003 CIP issue, as the grade rising into the Missouri River bluffs was too high to meet federal design guidelines to qualify for transportation funds.

Rick Spriggs designed these new sections, as he had with 98 percent of the city’s trail system, doing a “tremendous job,” according to Clements. Private contractors are handling the construction.

Force said he believes the city’s residents will respond to the expansion of the trail system, especially if economic factors don’t change.

“If gas prices continue to stay high and if cost of living increases don’t keep up with inflation, I think people will use these paths a lot more as a way to commute and avoid traffic,” Force said.

Clements said he does not have usage figures on the trail system, but he believes they are becoming more popular.

“I can tell you that I’ve noticed, both on the trail system and the sidewalks city-wide, that it’s rare that I don’t see somebody biking,” Clements said.

Clements said these trails are a small part of what it takes to make St. Joseph a “bike-friendly” community, and the city has far to go in reaching that goal. “It carries a lot of things with it — road design, subdivision design.”

While he believes St. Joseph has a lot of catching up to do, these projects and two more scheduled for next year should do a lot to improve the situation. Next year another phase of the Riverfront Trail will be funded, extending that path northward to the northwest corner of the Heritage Park parking lot. Eventually, that should tie into the sidewalk system of the Cook Road extension project.

Such a link, Force said, is what the city of Lincoln, Neb., has accomplished.

“Lincoln is really amazing,” Force said. “Trails like this connect everything, like schools and shopping centers. And I just see so much happening in St. Joseph with all of this that it excites me.”

Added Clements, “As some of these links have started coming together, I’ve really seen a lot of folks taking advantage of it. Utilization is really, really growing on the trail system.”