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CHAPTER 4 TRANSPORTATION 87 • Ramsey County is currently developing plans for three cross country ski/bicycle/ pedestrian trails in the City of New Brighton. First, the "Rice Creek West Trail" will parallel the Minnesota Commercial Railway right-of-way from Stinson Boulevard east to the end of Mississippi Street and will be constructed in June of 1991. Second, the `Rice Creek North Trail" will parallel Rice Creek from the end of Mississippi Street north to Mounds View and will be constructed in June of 1998. Finally, a "Long Lake Park Regional Trail" is scheduled to be constructed from Mississippi Street to the south shore of Long Lake by June of 1991. All three trails will consist of a 10 foot wide bituminous path for bicycling and a 10 foot wide grass shoulder for walking and skiing. These trails will meet near the east end of Mississippi Street. The trails will offer three entrance/exit points; one to the south along Long Lake; one to the north along County Road H; and one to the east along Old Highway 8. BIKEWAYS Bikeways can consist of one or more of three different elements — bike paths, which are exclusively for bicycle use and are totally separate from motor vehicle routes, bike lanes which are areas of motor vehicle routes separated by appropriate signing, lane striping or barriers for bicycle use, and bike routes which are motor vehicle routes signed to identify • them as areas of bicycle traffic. The current New Brighton bikeway system, established in 1974, is a system of bike routes on city and county roads. This original system had the basic goals of providing a recreational circulation system primarily on low traffic volume streets that provided access to or near major trip generators such as schools. Evaluation of the existing system leads to the principal conclusion that the orientation of the bikeway system should primarily be to serve recreational trips. At the same time, however, shopping, commuting and school trips are of sufficient importance to justify attempts to accommodate them within the bikeway system and increase the safety of those trips. A second conclusion relates to the length of the trips. It appears that most trips are in the 3-5 mile range and that it is this type of trip to which the municipal system should respond. In designing the municipal bikeway system it is obvious that other elements, such as the proposed Ramsey County Bikeway System, the municipal sidewalk system and systems in adjacent communities can provide connecting links for local recreational bike travel. These systems and the present City system, are shown on the "Bike Ways" map. (Map 13) The use of the sidewalk system is one method of providing a separation of bicycle and motorized traffic. • When considering the separation of bicycle and motorized traffic by bike lanes or paths, we must consider what conditions warrant separation. Numerical criteria taken from a 1974