(Photo by August Jennewein)

The University of Missouri–St. Louis solidified its reputation as a bike friendly campus by adding the St. Vincent-Cross Campus Trail. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Sept. 20.

The new bike trail connects two existing pathways – the St. Vincent Greenway Trail and Ted Jones Trail – and features an underpass that runs east beneath Arnold B. Grobman Drive and continues behind the Millennium Student Center parking garages.

Ellis Anderson (pictured), an elementary education major at UMSL, took advantage of the St. Vincent-Cross Campus Trail on Sept. 12 and says it makes traveling between North Campus and South Campus much easier.

“I have a car, but the bicycle is a lot more economical and more convenient than the shuttle buses,” he says.

The university will operate and maintain the trail, and Great Rivers Greenway funded the $1.3 million project. GRC is a private organization that’s developing an interconnected system of trails throughout the St. Louis area.

UMSL Police Chief Forrest Van Ness says the trail was designed with students’ safety in mind. New lighting has been installed, and blue emergency phones with direct access to the campus police office have been added in the underpass.

A wheelchair-accessible pathway connects the new trail to the lower level of Millennium Student Center Garage South. Using the underpass, students can now avoid crossing Grobman Drive between the garage and student center.

This story was originally published in the fall 2012 issue of UMSL Magazine.