Circle White Bear Lake by bike? Much of the route is complete

On a recent tour along the shoreline of White Bear Lake, Mike Brooks pointed out the sections that have a bike path, celebrating each newly installed bench, wayfinding sign and light along the way. This is the 10-mile Lake Links route, a bike path years in the making that’s still some 2 miles short of its goal of encircling the lake.

Brooks has pitched the plan to pretty much anyone within earshot and has seen millions of dollars pledged, streets remade and complicated land ownership issues smoothed out as the trail has grown mile by mile, and sometimes block by block.

“It’s a lot more complicated than just dropping a trail in,” said Brooks, who chairs the nonprofit Lake Links Association. “You have to have everyone on the same page.”

The effort goes back decades, and it could be years before the final sections of the path are complete, but new studies launched this year by Washington County and the city of Dellwood promise to show how, if not when, the trail could be finished.

Today, the Lake Links trail is a combination of bike paths and, in places where a path wasn’t possible, quiet neighborhood roads marked with small “Lake Links” signs and “sharrows,” a white arrow and bicycle painted on the road to denote its use as a bikeway. The newest segment opened last fall along South Shore Boulevard, where Lake Links Association board member Greg Bartz lives.

“I was on a mission here,” Bartz said.

In the past, the lakeside South Shore Boulevard was a two-way street used by commuters who sometimes ignored the 30 mph speed limit. Walking and biking there didn’t feel safe, said Bartz, a 19-year resident of the area.

Several years ago, when it came time to lay fresh pavement on the deteriorating road, Bartz and the Lake Links Association sensed that the timing might be right to make the pitch for a redesign and a bike path. The end result? A narrower road, a one-way street east of McKnight Road, and a wide, 1.5-mile multi-use path along the lake side.

“It’s a wonderful setup,” said Bartz, who said the neighborhood feels more walkable and friendly.

The Lake Links Association has turned its attention to the last sections of White Bear Lake shoreline that don’t have a bike path, the portions along highways 96 and 244.

State officials as early as 1987 had plans to add a path along those highways, according to a 35-year-old study. An abandoned railroad line along the north shore of White Bear Lake could become a possible route, but much of it is now privately owned by homeowners. There’s also road safety issues with some intersections, as well as a curious problem caused by the fact that Highway 96 doesn’t run down the middle of the right-of-way that was created for it but instead hugs a bit closer to the lake in some sections, meaning there’s no room for a trail.

In June, Washington County launched a study of Highway 96 from Highway 61 in White Bear Lake to Highway 95 in Stillwater that will evaluate everything from drainage to utilities, plus the feasibility of adding a bike path

Madeline Dahlheimer, a senior planner for Washington County, said the county plans to reach out to neighbors along the route as part of the study, which will take 12 to 18 months.

“We need to talk to property owners about what this impact might mean,” Dahlheimer said. “Yes, we love trails, but there are people who own property in that place.”

At the same time, the city of Dellwood has launched its own study of possible routes for the portion of the Lake Links trail that would pass through the city, said Dellwood City Council Member Greg Boosalis.

The city received two state grants worth a total of $4.6 million in 2020 and 2023 for the trail’s construction, but it’s not clear where it would go. Some homeowners along the abandoned rail bed have signaled they don’t want to relinquish the property for a trail, he said, and the city has also taken the position that it won’t use eminent domain to push the trail through.

“We’re trying to work out where we can put it,” Boosalis said.

Brooks and the Lake Links Association remain hopeful.

For Brooks, it’s personal. He started the association seven years ago with Steve Wolgamot, a former member of the Mahtomedi City Council. They helped raise $9.87 million in state grants for pieces of path before Wolgamot, a lawyer and engineer, died of brain cancer in 2022. A portion of the trail is now named for him, with a marker on Birchwood Road near the southernmost tip of White Bear Lake.