Old bike paths east of Mahtomedi and in Stillwater get redo

A pair of well-worn Washington County bike trails will be refreshed by this fall as county public works crews address some of the worst-condition routes. The trail along Hwy. 12 between Stillwater and Mahtomedi and the trail along Hwy. 5 north of Hwy. 36 were identified in a study last year as having the worst pavement in the county, said Mike Kline, Washington County public works engineer.

The Hwy. 5 trail, built in 1994, will be redone between Hwy. 36 and Autumn Way, south of Lily Lake Elementary. The Hwy. 12 trail will see fresh pavement between Keats Avenue and Hilton Trail. The section from Keats Avenue to Manning is also being looked at, but no date has been set for its repair, said Kline. The Hwy. 12 route is one of the oldest bike trails in the county, built in 1978. The work should be done by the time schools reopen this fall, Kline said.

The Hwy. 12 bike trail improvements come as part of a larger safety project due to wrap up this year. That work to rebuild sections of roadway and intersections has been ongoing for several years on the heavily trafficked route, which sees some 9,900 vehicles daily, according to the county.