St. Louis Question

Mike Kruger said:

Short version: How do I get from Northwest Plaza shopping center across the
Missouri River (Page bridge or 370 bridge) by bike?

Longer version:
I'm dropping off a car in St. Louis County, near Fee Fee Rd, Old St. Charles
Rd. and Lindbergh Blvd.(just west of Northwest Plaza shopping center).

In case it helps, here's the location in Google Maps.http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3600+welland,+bridge...

I'm then going on a bike tour ending in Quincy, IL. Once I get across either
Missouri bridge (Page or 370) I'm OK and can make my way to the Golden Eagle
Ferry over the Mississippi (it's a 2-person tour, and the most efficient
route isn't required), but I'm not sure what would be a good route to get to
these bridges from there.

Any help? Is there a bike map that covers this area?

--
Mike Kruger

The St. Louis Bike Fed has a forum for questions like this. I have
ridden a couple of times in the area. I know someone who used to ride
on I370 from St. Charles into St. Louis a lot, so it is possible, but
this was before the Page Ave Bridge was built. For just a few more
miles, you can catch the Katy trail North of I370 and take the Katy
Trail with extremely few crossings down to Page Ave, which is very new
and wide shoulders to get you towards the airport.

As far as the route from Quincy, the Mississippi River trail is a on-
road bicycle route on both sides of the river with suggested crossing
points. Signs are up from Hannibal to St. Louis.
http://www.mississippirivertrail.org/

Quoted message said:

Mike Kruger said:

Short version: How do I get from Northwest Plaza shopping center
across the
Missouri River (Page bridge or 370 bridge) by bike?

The St. Louis Bike Fed has a forum for questions like this. I have
ridden a couple of times in the area. I know someone who used to ride
on I370 from St. Charles into St. Louis a lot, so it is possible, but
this was before the Page Ave Bridge was built. For just a few more
miles, you can catch the Katy trail North of I370 and take the Katy
Trail with extremely few crossings down to Page Ave, which is very new
and wide shoulders to get you towards the airport.

As far as the route from Quincy, the Mississippi River trail is a on-
road bicycle route on both sides of the river with suggested crossing
points. Signs are up from Hannibal to St. Louis.
http://www.mississippirivertrail.org/

Thanks. I posted on http://www.stlbiking.com forum and got a nice answer.

We're crossing on the Golden Eagle Ferry to Calhoun county and going up the
Illinois side, following the LIB cue sheets for the MRT.
http://bikelib.org/mrt/index.htm

The MO side looks like it follows SR79 to Hannibal and via links from the
Mo. Bike Fed site I found a map that indicates this is two lane, mostly no
paved shoulder. http://mobikefed.org/files/d3-shouldermap-12-2004.pdf
That's not so great.

Just north of the Cuivre River (south border of Lincoln County) the traffic
volume is 8900, although this drops to 2000 or so in Pike County, the next
county north.
http://mobikefed.org/files/d3trafficcount.pdf

So, we might take the Illinois side up the Calhoun County peninsula, we
might take another ferry back tothe Missouri side to tour Hannibal, then
take the I72 bridge back over to Quincy. (LIB says bikes are allowed). I
want to plan ahead, but the actual decisions will be made on the road.

--
Mike Kruger
In Puritan New England, Christmas wasn't even a legal holiday until 1856