Katy Trail Home  The Katy Trail and Rock Island Trail Rock Island Trail Home

Reply to Do not ride Marine Avenue up from Creve Coeur Park!


Cancel and Return to Forum
Scroll down to see the discussion
All submissions are reviewed for appropriateness. We reserve the right to remove or edit any comment that we consider incorrect, misleading, or inappropriate, at our sole discretion. Please remember that this is a family-friendly website.
Subject:
Reply to Do not ride Marine Avenue up from Creve Coeur Park!
Your Name:

This does not have to be your real name. It could be a "screen name", your initials, or just leave blank.
Your Hometown:

Optional - it's just interesting to know where people are from
Email Address
Comment:
So we know you are a human, please answer this easy math quiz:
3 + 2 =
Dwight The Troubled Teen from Creve Coeur, MO on 5/25/2006 10:54:03 AM:
Goodness! That little winding section that links the park to the "reasonable" part of Marine is a total deathtrap. I won't even bike DOWN that steep stretch, even though I could easily do it faster than I can in a car.

But going UP? Goodness no! NO curb and a dangereous drop-off that will break your bike if not your leg... Total blind snaking blacktop... Very steep grade to slow you to a crawl as you take your life in your hands... I cannot impress upon you how dangerous this is. I'm not a drama queen, you are gambling with your life.

BUT... Creve Coeur park is really a collection of many parks.

INSTEAD of going up that road, as you look at the base of the road where it starts up the hill, on the left you'll see stairs. Carry your bike up that long, long flight of stairs. There is a small park at the top (and yes, there IS a top to that flight of stairs! Rest along the way!). Just go right and follow the main park road. It will dump you out less than 30 feet from the top of Marine Ave. (slight jog to the right on Dorsett, and then left onto Marine.)

I hate to even drive that dangerous stretch of Marine. I implore you to use the stairs and avoid it.

 
Nails on 5/25/2006 12:09:45 PM:
Marine Ave is for the serious roadie. I've ridden up it once. If it was my only choice, I'd do it again over the stairs. However, I found that you can take Creve Coeur Mill Rd to the South and then up the hill on Amoit Dr. It adds a mile or so to the ride, but it isn't as steep and Amoit is a quiet residential street.

 
stlbiker on 10/23/2009 8:53:12 PM:
Marine isn't that bad.

 
Doug from Bluffton on 10/23/2009 10:17:32 PM:
I'm sorry, what part of the Katy Trail is this?

 
Paulie from Knoxville on 10/24/2009 10:49:55 AM:
Its not on the Katy, its one of the routes out of Creve Coeur Park.

Paulie

 
Doug from Bluffton on 10/24/2009 1:19:36 PM:
So what does that have to do with the Katy trail? Shall we all just post any road, bridge, intersection, light, neighborhood that upsets our own personal sense of safety here?

 
Ray (webmaster) on 10/24/2009 8:40:53 PM:
Doug I appreciate your efforts to keep the forum on-topic, but in this case there really is a valid Katy Trail tie-in (although admittedly it is not apparent in the discussion above).

Creve Coeur Park is the preferred way for cyclists to get into St Louis County from the Katy Trail, and Marine Road is the main road out of the park. This route is mentioned on a few different pages within this website, such as how to get from the Katy Trail to downtown St Louis and how to get from St Louis Lambert Airport to the Katy Trail, and getting from the Kirkwood Amtrak Station to the Katy Trail.

For anyone riding the Katy Trail near St Charles, I highly recommend the side-trip over the Page/364 bridge (nice perspective on the River) and maybe a spin around Creve Coeur Park (nice lake). I personally would be too chicken to ride Marine Rd, but there are braver cyclists out there than me. :-)