HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 12-10 Popular Gateway Trail won't be plowed this winter PIONEER PRESS 1Z10/2015 Popular Gateway Trail won't be plowed this winter-TwinCities.com
Popular Gateway Trail won't be plowed this winter
Updated:12/70/2015 06:34:73 AM CST Twi nCities.com
Bicyclists who commute along the Gateway State Trail might have to fnd another route to work this winter.
The same goes for walkers,joggers and anyone else who will need a cleared path when the snow flies.
In a move to save money,the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has decided to no longer plow a 12-mile stretch
ofthe 18-mile populartrail thatlinks St.Paul to northern Washington County.
The agency also won't groom or pack ski trails on the fnal 6 miles of the trail--from Jamaca Avenue in Grant to Pine Point
Regional Park in Stillwater Township--or the Brown's Creek State Trail,which links the Gateway to downtown Stillwater.
The move is expected to save the DNR about$10,000 each winter,said Erika Rivers,director of the agency's Parks and
Trails Division.
The decision was based on historic use patterns and availability of similar services in the area,Rivers said.
"We are trying to focus on quality and not spread ourselves thinly across the state,"she said."IPs not sustainable to
continue running the system as we have run it in the past,and we really need to think more strategically aboutwhere we
provision our services into the future."
Rivers said the DNR is talking to cities along the trail"to see if there is some sort of partnership opportunity...if they want to
keep those local trails groomed or maintained at a different level in the winter."
The DNR decision has outraged bike commuter Joe Mansky.
Mansky,elections manager in Ramsey Counry,uses the Gateway Trail for part ofthe 12-mile commute from his house in
Oakdale to the Plato Building,a half-mile south of downtown St.Paul.He bikes three to four days a week,even in winter.
He also uses the Bruce Vento Regional Trail,maintained by Ramsey County,and the Phalen Boulevard trails,maintained
by St.Paul.
"Belween the Legacy Amendment funds and the$1.8 billion state surplus,wouldn'tyou think they have the money to
maintain state property or at leastto contractwith(Maplewood,North St.Paul and Oakdale)to do itfor them?"Mansky
said.
Maplewood Mayor Nora Slawik said residents have been contacting her to express their displeasure with the DNR.
"I think they thought no one would notice;'said Slawik,whose city straddles the Gateway."Well,people noticed,and
they're not happy."
Slawik said a disabled man who uses a motorized scooter called City Hall after a snowfall Nov.30 to complain thatthe trail
wasn't plowed.
"The trail is the safest and easiest way to get from one place to another--iPs how you to get the store,how you mail a
letter,"she said.
"IYs a very important link.It means people don't have to go on the streets.When I hear that people who are disabled are not
able to use it...I'm very concerned."
Mayor Tom Carr of Grant,another ciry that sits astride the trail,said he did not learn of the DNR's decision until Tuesday.
"I'm at a loss here.IYs the most-used trail in the state;'Carr said."If someone slips and falis out there,we're the ones who
are going to get the call.
They'd better put'Keep off,"Dangerous'and'Slippery when weP signs up outthere"
The Gateway-Brown's Creek Trail Association also has expressed concerns,said board member John Oldendort.
"IYs too bad,"said Oldendorf,who lives in Lake Elmo."A lot of people use that stretch for hiking,biking and walking in the
winter."
In Stillwater,offcials are exploring options to keep the portion of the Brown's Creek trail within city limits groomed and
http://www.lwincities.com/Icealnewslci_29225034/popular-gateway-trail-wont-b�plowec�this-winter 1/2
12/10/2015 Popular Gateway Trail won't be plowed this winter - TwinCities.com
packed for skiers, City Administrator Tom McCarty said.
Any decision to have city crews perform winter trail maintenance -- or have others perform the work -- would require a
formal agreement between the DNR and city, he said.
Stillwater Ciry Council member Mike Polehna said he expects volunteers to step up and groom the Brown's Creek trail for
skiing.
"i'm sure our volunteers would like to do it," he said.
Rivers said the DNR is focusing resources on "high-use times and seasons of use." She said the Gateway and Brown's
Creek trails are used mostly in the spring, summer and fail.
"So we've really taken a look and prioritized spending our public resources on those seasons of the year," she said. "We're
spending less ofthose resources when the activity and the use is lower."
An announcement posted on the DNR's website instructs skiers that they can find groomed trails at William O'Brien and
Afton state parks.
The Gateway and Brown's Creek trails wiil remain open for uses that require less stafftime, including winter hiking,
snowshoeing, ungroomed skiing or fat-tire biking, Rivers said.
And fat-tire bikers are cheering the new plowing policy.
"Most fat-bike guys are a lot happier without it plowed," said Troy Sierakowski, shop manager and head mechanic at
Chilkoot Cafe and Cyclery in Stillwater, a hub for the local cycling scene.
During the warm seasons, the Gateway is full of cyclists astride bikes equipped with narrower tires ill-suited for slippery
trails, Sierakowski said. But during the winter, he said, those crowds thin, and fat-tire bikes dominate the scene.
"These bikes were designed to ride on snow more than pavement," said Sierakowski, who said the fat-bike community
didn't lobby the DNR for the change and he wasn't aware of the DNR's new policy until a reporter called. "That's why we
got them."
Outdoors writer Dave Orrick contributed to this report. Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443. Follow her at
twitter.com/MaryEDivine.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_29225034/popular-gateway-trail-wont-b�plowed-this-winter y2