Due to high river levels, the city of St. Paul has closed Shepard Road from Chestnut Street east to Highway 61. This closure impacts the river connections in that area for bicycles. Based on basic observation, some of the Samuel Morgan segment west of Chestnut along Shepard Road is underwater — standing on the Science Museum overlook, you can see the trail, along with the railings and lightposts, slowly go underwater.

Presumably some of the trails to to east along Shepard/Warner Road are also afloat, along with parts of the Point Douglas Route near the river. Not sure about the status of Harriet Island and Lilydale Road, which do feature some areas very close to the water’s edge as well. Hidden Falls Park and Crosby Farm flood every year — not just years with high water downtown.

When these areas flooded last year, the areas were cleaned up nicely within a reasonable period of time. Current forecast does call for higher waters this year, which means it may be some time until these areas are usable for cyclists in 2011.

Author: julie

Julie Kosbab is an online marketing consultant and active transportation advocate living in Anoka County, Minnesota. She was one of Minnesota's only League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructors when certified in 2005. She is a past member of the National Bicycle Tour Directors Association. She has 2 children and 4 bicycles. Find her on Twitter as @betweenstations.