Paving the trails

As Sara Cross jogged along the MKT Trail on a recent afternoon, gravel and dried leaves crunched beneath her feet. The sound of each step was as familiar to her as it is to the other walkers and runners she passed along the trail. But it’s a sound that might soon fade from Columbia’s trail system.

Ted Curtis, the senior planner for Columbia’s $21.5 million Non-Motorized Grant Program, wants to pave the pea-gravel paths that make up the city’s trail system. The move, he said, would be part of a major effort to get Columbia residents out of their cars and onto the trails, where they would use their bikes and feet for transportation.

When Curtis arrived in Columbia to head the city’s PedNet organization, he found the backbone of what he called a “really incredible system” of trails. But he sees room for improvement.

Curtis has been in trail development for more than 18 years. He said that in his experience, almost all cities have paved recreational trails. Those without, he said, usually don’t have the money to pave their trails. Because of the federal PedNet grant, Columbia doesn’t have that problem.

Curtis said paving the trails and establishing a comprehensive marketing program could increase the number of residents using the trail system for recreation. Once the city succeeds in getting people to walk and ride for fun and exercise, it could turn its attention to improving bike lanes on roads throughout the city to make riders more comfortable in traffic.

This process might slowly lead to more residents using alternate forms of transportation in their daily lives, Curtis said.

Out on the trail, some users voiced concerns about the ramifications of paving the shaded gravel trail, but others didn’t.

Cross, a runner who uses the trail routinely, thinks paving the trail would be better for maintenance.

“The trail is unlevel, especially after a rain,” she said, without breaking stride from her daily jog. “I don’t see how (paving) it would ruin it.”

Some runners worried that paved trails might increase the risk of repetitive stress injuries.

Kevin Marberry, an orthopedic surgeon at the MU Sports Medicine Clinic, said many of his patients prefer to run on softer surfaces.

“Some studies have associated stress fractures with harder running surfaces,” Marberry said, adding that while softer surfaces appear to be easier on the body, they require more muscle strength and can lead to fatigue. He also said competitive runners find harder surfaces better for time and speed.

“I like the idea of cross-training,” Marberry said.

Marberry runs at least three times a week, and he said he probably runs on harder surfaces two times a week.

Curtis, too, is a runner and understands the benefits of running on gravel as compared to asphalt. St. Louis, where Curtis developed and maintained trails before coming to Columbia, found a simple solution.

“St. Louis puts a wide shoulder on the paths for runners,” Curtis said.

Curtis said a gravel shoulder wouldn’t solve all problems. The shoulder would probably not be wide enough to accommodate groups of runners who prefer to talk while using the trail.

Some walkers are not as concerned about the physical stress of padding along the pavement, but they doubted that paving the trail would be the best use of the grant money.

“What I would spend the money on is extending the network,” said Blake Congdon, who lives along the trail and uses it frequently. “So there is a network that isn’t just east to west, but south to north.”

Curtis said that was a major consideration, but noted that the purchase of land and construction of new trails can take at least five years. The city, he said, must show by 2010 that its pilot program is making a difference if the federal government is to continue the program and if Columbia is to get another grant.

Some trail users cited the potential impact that paving could have on the environment.

Hanni Secrest, who was strapping on her helmet as she prepared for a bike ride, said she was conflicted. She enjoys the animals and nature along the trail but said that the feel of concrete beneath her wheels might entice her to use the trail in different ways.

“I like to rollerblade, so it might be nice,” Secrest said. “But I can always go to Cosmo Park.”

Curtis said he understands the worry that paving the trails would affect the natural ambience. He did not, however, want alterations to the trail system to negatively impact that feature.

There are two ways to have a paved trail and still keep the ambience, Curtis said. The first is to avoid striping the pavement to avoid comparisons to a road. The other is incorporating more nature into the trail’s design.

“I didn’t know (the trail followed to Flat Branch Creek) the first time I was out there,” Curtis said. “You cross the creek several times but often can’t see its right there.”

The trail crosses Hinkson and Flat Branch creeks 12 times in its 4.7 mile stretch. Curtis said he would like to make the creek more of a presence by creating spur trails that take users closer to the streams.

Curtis’s plan calls for eventual pavement on not only the MKT but also the Hinkson and Bear Creek trails. But some want him to balance his ambition with the nostalgia some feel for the trails as they are — gravel and all.

Congdon wishes the city would just leave them be.

“The gravel is part of the appeal.”