Recently rode, for the first time, “the first Rails to Trails Project in America, The Grandaddy of them all, The Elroy Sparta Trail…”

Initial reaction — quaint, quiet, safe, easy. Almost too easy, too straight, too flat — I get achy neck from holding my head in the same position for too long. The ride would tend toward monotony were it not for the delightful overgrown brush-forest scenery that makes it possible to ride all day without getting sunburned, and the very cool (52 degrees year round) tunnels.

Also, while we visited midweek and thus avoided crowds… the popular trail is deeply flawed, and was destined from the outset to be flawed.

1. Too narrow. Best practices advise 10 to 12 to 14-feet wide. But, and remember this was a point of celebration, this is an old rail bed. And it’s single track (if it were double track, it would not have so quickly reached economic non-viability). Which means the trail never was anywhere near 14-feet wide, which is the recommendation for a high-use, mixed-use trail. When you meet oncoming cyclists or walkers… everybody has to go single file.
2. It never will be expanded. The Elroy Sparta Trail is still celebrated as the first, etc, etc… which means that it’s perceived as good enough — when it was created and still today.
3. It’s not sufficiently maintained. Whatever use is made of the (very nominal $4/day) trail fee… it should be used to clear leaves. In forested areas, the original crushed limestone path is layered with decayed vegetable matter — smooth and surely slippery when wet.
4. The reason it’s not maintained is that it’s segregated from Wisconsin’s excellent road system. Instead of having a place at the table when transportation appropriations are served… bicyclists are sent off to eat with the children… because, you know, bikes are toys. Even the Amish horse and buggy folks are taken seriously as road users. Bicyclists are not — in Illinois, cyclists are prohibited from wearing the “slow moving vehicle” triangle. Because, you know, bikes aren’t real vehicles.

All these Catch 22s add up. It’s good that “we” made use of abandoned rail beds. It’s bad because that limited the design to whatever was good enough for trains. It’s good that the trails are (physically) separate from the road system. It’s bad that the trails are (fiscally) separate from the road system.