St. Peter-Mankato bike trail moving closer to construction

May 8—MANKATO — The Minnesota Department of Transportation has laid out a precise route for a new bike trail connecting St. Peter and Mankato, intends to purchase the required land and will likely do much of the grading for the trail as part of an upcoming $35 million improvement of Highway 22 between the two cities.

That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that Mankatoans will be biking to Chankaska Creek Winery or that St. Peter cyclists will have an off-road connection to the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail or the Mankato trail system.

Unless millions of dollars become available very quickly, MnDOT won't be able to pave the trail or construct a key bridge just north of Mankato as part of the big Highway 22 project scheduled for 2024-25, said Forrest Hasty, project manager for the Highway 22 upgrade. MnDOT is willing to oversee the finishing work on the trail but can't divert funding from highway projects for trail bridges or trail paving, so financing would have to be provided from another source if the bike route is to be completed in the near term.

"That could happen with the project (in 2024-25) if funding becomes available," Hasty said. "It could be a year after. It could be a decade. I'm not really sure."

The advance work MnDOT is performing is very helpful and could give the 7.25-mile path a jump-start as local leaders consider seeking legislative appropriations to finish the long-sought trail, according to Kent Skaar of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Trails. It's not realistic, though, to think the Legislature would provide the needed funding to construct the entire trail by 2025.

"I'd like to be optimistic and say within a decade it's possible," Skaar said. "... It may be a series of smaller extensions."

The total cost of the trail is estimated at roughly $8 million, although that figure could drop with MnDOT doing the preliminary grading as part of the highway reconstruction.

17 miles of river valley trail

The DNR oversees and maintains existing state trails. It's also tasked by the Legislature with planning for new ones, including a proposed Minnesota River State Trail that would ultimately run the length of the river from Big Stone Lake State Park near the headwaters to Fort Snelling State Park where it converges with the Mississippi River.

That trail, with only small segments in place, is decades away from completion. If built, the St. Peter-Mankato trail would create one of the biggest continuous sections along the river valley because it would tie into existing state, city and county trails that stretch more than 10 miles.

Mankato's city-owned Minnesota River Trail runs from Sibley Park along the southern/eastern bank of the river to north of Highway 14, then continues east parallel to Highway 14 to North Riverfront Drive, where it connects to the Sakatah Trail. Sakatah Trail, in turn, passes beneath Highway 22 on Mankato's north side, where it would connect with the proposed new trail along Highway 22.

Blue Earth County's Minneopa Trail connects Mankato's Land of Memories Park to the eastern edge of Minneopa State Park. The only missing connection would be at the Blue Earth River, which divides Sibley and Land of Memories parks. But a plan is in place to bridge that gap as soon as 2024 when the historic Kern Bridge is to be reassembled as a pedestrian/bike trail crossing of the Blue Earth River at Sibley Park.

The prospect of a continuous segment of the Minnesota River State Trail stretching more than 17 miles from St. Peter's south side to Mankato, through the city and to Minneopa State Park could make for a persuasive bonding request for the Legislature. Local lawmakers and trail advocates could also make the sales pitch that previous state, county and city partnerships have already accomplished more than half of the work.

"The momentum is certainly part of that," Skaar said of the key factors in creating new state trails.

A practical, less scenic connection

Whenever the St. Peter to Mankato section of trail is funded and constructed, it won't be as picturesque as advocates may have hoped. The DNR had studied possible locations for years, looking at both sides of the river, seeking opinions from the public and gauging the interest of property owners in providing land for a route.

The preferred route is on the east side of the river and the west side of Highway 22, sometimes sticking near the road and other times moving closer to the river.

The route now being planned is on the east side of Highway 22, opposite from the river and close to the highway.

Ultimately, the DNR needed to trade scenery for practicality. Routes farther from the highway proved unrealistic for various reasons, primarily a lack of property owners willing to sell part of their land for a trail.

"If they want to see a trail in their lifetime, a trail that runs along Highway 22 is the way it's going to have to happen," MnDOT's Anne Wolff said, summarizing the realization trail advocates came to.

That's because the DNR doesn't force landowners to sell property to create trails. MnDOT, in contrast, would be acquiring needed land through eminent domain along Highway 22 to add passing lanes and turn lanes to the busy highway for safety reasons. The DNR asked their transportation colleagues to consider adding a few feet of right-of-way for a trail.

"That's what we committed to on this project, purchasing the property so there's room for the trail," Hasty said. "We also committed to doing most of the grading."

Putting the trail on the east side of Highway 22 was necessary because there were many fewer barriers there than on the west side — fewer places where culverts would be required, fewer homes and businesses right next to the highway, fewer places with steep grades, fewer flood-prone spots.

The goal is to have at least 24 feet of separation between the traffic lanes and the trail, other than at intersections where the trail will curve back close to the highway so bikers are visible to drivers making turns and are crossing sideroads where traffic is moving most slowly.

Kasota-Chankaska tunnel a priority

About six miles of the 7.25-mile trail would be on the east side of Highway 22, connecting with the Sakatah Trail where a trail parking lot already exists east of the highway on Mankato's north side.

But the trail will start on the west side of the highway because it will connect with the St. Peter city trail on the west side of Highway 22, using that trail to cross the Minnesota River on St. Peter's southern end.

Starting on the west side will also provide a direct trail connection for residents of Kasota.

Moving the trail from the west side of the highway to the east will require a tunnel — MnDOT doesn't want bikers and, in the wintertime, snowmobilers crossing high-traffic Highway 22. The tunnel under the highway is planned at Pearl Street near Kasota because the roadside grades there work well for an underpass and because certain trail users were going to be tempted to head to the east side of the highway at that spot anyway.

"Chankaska is a destination," Hasty said of Chankaska Creek Ranch Winery and Distillery, located just east of the Pearl Street intersection. "People will want to cross there."

The underpass is one piece of the bike trail that Hasty wants to get funded in time for the highway construction project, and Skaar said the DNR will be applying later this month for a $750,000 grant through the state's Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.

The underpass will be large — at least 14 feet wide, 12 feet high and about 190 feet long — so putting it in place when the highway is being reconstructed in 2024-25 would be less disruptive and wasteful than adding the tunnel in the years following the highway project's completion.

"You're ripping up all the median and you're throwing away the life of the pavement you've already purchased," Hasty said of a later tunnel construction.

Other parts of the trail could be added in subsequent years without huge impacts on Highway 22 and its traffic. Even a 400-foot trail bridge over the Canadian Pacific Railroad tracks on the north side of Mankato could be built later.

Ideally, the bridge could be constructed and the trail paved in its entirety as part of the 2024-25 highway project. Traffic control would already be in place, construction equipment would be mobilized, the trail paving could be laid in conjunction with road paving ... .

"Yes, there would be cost savings," Hasty said.

Skaar, while hopeful about prospects for the LCCMR grant for the underpass, isn't optimistic about the prospects of millions of dollars being allocated by lawmakers for trail construction in the next two years.

"None of us are anticipating that at this point," he said.

Nonetheless, the work MnDOT is doing will greatly increase the prospects for a trail in the following years.

"It's to their credit the opportunity exists — no question," Skaar said.

People interested in the trail project — or in other aspects of the Highway 22 improvement — will have a chance to look at detailed maps, ask questions and share thoughts during public open houses this summer, said Wolff, a public engagement coordinator for MnDOT.

One is tentatively scheduled for June 28 in St. Peter and others are being planned for Kasota and at the Mankato Regional Airport.