Swansea’s tiny bike trail gets $575,000 to go somewhere

Swansea for several years offered the bike trail to nowhere.

The short trail ran from Mel Price Park to Boul Avenue, where it ended. No connection to nearby High Mount School. No connection to the nearby MetroLink bicycle trail. It just ended on a road with no shoulder and no real place to go without an adult risking body and bike — much less allowing a child to use it — as cars zipped down the popular shortcut.

There was a $27,000 grant available in 2014 from the Metro East Parks and Recreation District, so Swansea built about 800 feet of bike trail.

In October the parks district dropped a $300,000 grant on the village, which is being added to a $275,000 federal grant for transportation alternatives.

The little trail that could will finally link to the school, and link to the MetroLink bike trail, and follow along Boul Avenue without competing with cars. They also plan a new park for the land between Cholula’s Mexican Restaurant and Erb Equipment.

Maybe the lesson here is that if you go down a path that makes no sense, all you need is another $575,000 in taxes for everything to fall into place.

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Swansea’s tiny bike trail gets $575,000 to go somewhere."