Cyclists and pedestrians soon will have a path of their own along the narrow and winding roadways surrounding White Bear Lake.
After more than a decade of efforts by residents and a handful of lawmakers, the Legislature has set aside a little more than $4 million this year to help complete a 10-mile trail around the popular east metro lake.
The route, to be called the Lake Links Trail, will be somewhat duct-taped together with a hodgepodge of connections to existing bike paths in the small downtowns and communities around the lake.
At various points the path will jump on and off the old rail bed of the long-abandoned St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, now covered with grass and topped by a natural tunnel of pine branches and maple and ash leaves.
The goal is to get bikers, walkers and people in wheelchairs off two-lane roads like Highway 96 and Highway 244, where the shoulders can be just inches wide and cars speed by at more than 50 mph, said Mike Brooks, co-chair of the Lake Links Association, a grass roots organization that fought to secure the money.
Brooks hopes to have the trail complete by 2021.
"People should have the right to move under their own power, safely," he said. "These trails aren't just recreation. It's about transportation. It's about being able to go to the store, and helping a kid get to school or to a park."
Much of the money will be split between Ramsey County and the city of Mahtomedi. The county will use $2.6 million to build a trail along South Shore Boulevard, on the south side of the lake, and Mahtomedi will use $1.4 million to add a trail along Birchwood, Wildwood Beach and Briarwood roads.