Over the last few years we’ve been keeping an eye on the proposed trail along the Beal Slough linking the trail south of Pine Lake and 56th over to 70th and Yankee Hill. An article in the Lincoln Journal Star explains the reason for the slow progress and where we are now in the process. We know from past experience that anytime a trail needs to go over, under, or next to a railroad, the needed permissions can take a long time to happen. This time it was the crossing under the tracks near 70th south of Yankee Hill. The underpass at about 66th and Pine Lake has been waiting for years for the rest of the trail to catch up. I first wrote about it in 2016! It’s great to see it finally moving forward. Right now the wait is on OPPD to approve the design of an undercrossing before construction can begin. I haven’t heard of a time-line to begin, or finish, the work yet.
In my experience with occasionally needing to ride from the area of 40th and Yankee Hill to 98th and Nebraska Parkway, there’s a serious need to link the Yankee Hill trail from it’s current gap between 40th to 70th. Traffic can get bad and the street is two-lane, though some places have a “shoulder.” To not have a continuous trail seriously compromises it’s usefulness. It can also be iffy to ride east of 56th along Pine Lake to Nebraska Parkway. West of 56th it has a side path that serves as a trail, except in the winter when it sometimes serves as a snow storage area. Most of my use of trails is as a commuter trying to get to workplaces or run errands.
Trails don’t go everywhere we need them to, but they usually can get us part of the way there. The rest of the way has to be on lower traffic streets which must be safe enough for us to use. In the suburbs, the nature of neighborhood streets is to keep traffic, including bicycles, from being able to cross through. This makes using arterial streets more important, but more dangerous for bicyclists if we have to share those same streets. If we want to make active transportation a viable option, we have to create safe routes where people need to go.