St. Tammany News

The first organizational meeting of the East St. Tammany Bicycling and Pedestrian Action Committee was crowded with residents from Slidell, Lacombe and Pearl River as well as parish officials and elected representatives.

It was a standing room only group at the Slidell City Council Chambers Thursday evening, as BI-PAC Chairman Sue deRada explained what was needed to build more bicycle and walking paths in Slidell and the surrounding area. The main mission of BI-PAC is two-fold in eastern St. Tammany Parish. DeRada, an avid bicyclist who lives in Pearl River, wants bike paths from east Slidell that will come across Interstate 10 and converge at Heritage Park.

Secondly, BI-PAC wants to connect the parish's bike path, the Tammany Trace, with Heritage Park so bicyclists, walkers and joggers can travel from the east all the way to western part of the parish.

"We have people here from Indian Village and the Rigolets who want to ride their bikes into town, but it isn't safe to do so on the parish roads," deRada said.

She said building bike paths, called greenways, will help cut down on traffic, promote health and help to cut down on carbon emissions that are adding to global warming.

DeRada and her husband, Sergio, traveled to Norway last summer, and they were both impressed that the major transportation methods there are bicycles and walking.

"Bikes are a way of life there, and they outnumber cars," Sergio said.

The United States is starting to follow the lead of Norway, Sue deRada said. More cities and towns are making their streets bike friendly and building greenways. On the federal level, the massive East Coast Greenway is under construction, stretching 3,000 miles from the Florida Keys to the state of Maine. It is 20 percent completed, deRada said.

BI-PAC sees bike paths all over the parish, connecting all the cities and towns.

However, the organization needs to find funding and government support for the project.

Sidney Fontenot, director of planning for the parish, warned residents there that even connecting the Trace with eastern Slidell is a "long-range" project and could take several years.

"The Tammany Trace was started in 1990, and took awhile to get going," Fontenot said.

Currently, the Trace stops at Nelson Road near the Northshore Square Mall. In order to bring it all the way to Heritage Park, many legal and financial hurdles will have to be overcome.

Tammany Trace Executive Director Lisa Maddox said getting the right-of-ways to property is a long process.

Gibb Farrish, representing Parish President Kevin Davis, said Davis is all in favor of building the bike paths, but there are also political obstacles. He said the state Department of Transportation Development is not keen on the idea of building greenways next to their roads and has to be convinced that greenways are a good thing.

DeRada said her research has shown there is funding from federal and state grants. She suggested citizens go out and recruit businesses that would sponsor parts or all of the costs for bike paths.

Getting public awareness was a major point stressed by deRada. She said people have to be educated about the benefits of greenways and rules and regulations governing bicycle riders and walkers on the road.

She plans to have a massive bicycle ride to make people aware of the benefits of using bicycles as a major mode of transportation.

There is a tentative bike ride scheduled for April.

"We will put together a Critical Mass Bike Ride and have people figure out the best way to get to Heritage Park," deRada said.

Non-bike riders like local businesswoman Susan Sperandeo touted the benefits of having more paths for people to walk.

"You can walk to a restaurant, eat and then walk home and burn off the pounds," Sperandeo said.

DeRada said residents in Eastern St. Tammany must contact their representatives on the Parish Council for Districts 6, 8, 11, 13, and 14, and tell them the greenways are needed.

To get involved in BI-PAC by joining one of its seven sub-committees and to learn more about greenways, call deRada at 863-7868 or e-mail her at derada@aol.com.