ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997 TAG: 9704150046
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS AND LISA APPLEGATE THE ROANOKE TIMES
STAFF WRITER LISA GARCIA CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY.
The hikers, bikers and bladers can sometimes get in each other's way, causing hazards and hurt feelings.
It's gusty and cool, the sun is shining, and there's a cloudless blue sky. Not a bad spring day for a walk, run or bike ride.
Days like this have attracted people to the new Huckleberry Trail in significant numbers, much like pilgrims who came to the baseball diamond in the movie "Field of Dreams."
"Only in this case, they're coming in droves," said Mike Matzuc, president of East Coasters, a Blacksburg bicycle retail shop.
Matzuc and others say the use of the Huckleberry Trail - particularly on balmy weekend days - shows the need for this sort of community recreational facility.
Yet the half-completed trail's heavy patronage also has spawned some user conflicts and resulted in physical injuries.
"It's a new facility," said Bill Ellenbogen, a businessman and bicyclist who heads Friends of the Huckleberry, a citizens group. "Users will have great pleasures and create potential sources of hazard."
Organizers of the trail concede they've been more involved with trying to finish the project than regulating its use. As a result, the trail hasn't established "rules of the road," such as speed limits or divided lanes, leaving trail users to follow their own etiquette.
Huckleberry Trail users recently interviewed say there's no great problem in sharing the pathway so far.
"It's all about common courtesy, and I think people follow it," said Georgeann Mills. She and her husband and two children ride their bikes just a few times a year, but Mills said they're thrilled to have the trail in the area.
Still, on a narrow trail designed to accommodate multiple uses, from bicycles to in-line skaters to baby strollers to joggers to walkers, people will find themselves going in different directions at different speeds.
Some users prefer to use the trail during the week, when the path isn't quite as crowded.
One mother, who didn't want her name used, said her daughter was hit by a biker while walking on the trail. A teen-age boy passed on his right, over the grass, and didn't warn the girl. She wasn't injured, the mother said, just spooked.
Occasionally, people who bike seriously speed through the trail as high-speed training, something Matzuc described as "not the smartest thing in the world."
"We just need to emphasize the fact that it's recreational," he said.
Inexperienced in-line skaters seem to be the most oft-injured trail users. The 3.2-mile trail is hilly and has sharp curves. It's particularly difficult for some skaters to stop or avoid traffic; one fell and broke her hip several months ago.
Safety concerns are focusing on a tunnel the trail uses beneath the U.S. 460 bypass. A sharp curve and downsloping approaches to the narrow passageway make it dangerous, particularly when trail users have to share the tunnel with Virginia Tech agricultural machinery.
Plans are to erect a chain-link fence inside the tunnel that will create traffic lanes, keeping the bikes and combines from competing for the same space.
There's also been talk of painting traffic lanes on the trail. But that's expensive, Ellenbogen said.
Authorities say heavy use of the Huckleberry Trail will reduce the risk of predators who may use isolated trail sections for robberies or assaults.
To date, the most serious attack occurred in September when three Blacksburg men beat and robbed a Tech student on the trail. Since the trail opened last fall, "We're had very few, isolated incidents of crime," said Lt. Bruce Bradbery of the Blacksburg Police Department.
Trail organizers like Ellenbogen emphasize that the Huckleberry is not intended for after-hours use. There are no lights or emergency boxes along the way.
"We've been talking about putting in call boxes and putting up signs saying the trail should not be used dark until daylight," said Capt. Jody Falls of the Virginia Tech police.
Ellenbogen calls the Huckleberry Trail "the area's first multijurisdictional park." Its pathway now crosses the borders of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech and Montgomery County, and will also cross into Christiansburg when phase two is built.
Boundaries to establish which locality will handle emergency calls on the Huckleberry Trail haven't been discussed yet, Ellenbogen said.
"We're breaking new ground out here," he said. "We've got to build a new model for this."
Trail amenities such as benches, landscaping and safety signs are being discussed as part of a plan to be presented next month to the local governments.
But money to enhance the trail is scarce, particularly with higher than expected costs to build the Huckleberry's second 2.2-mile phase from the Merrimac-Hightop road intersection to the New River Valley Mall.
Meanwhile, trail users will have to rely on courtesy and common sense.
Greg Harmon, who runs and bikes often, said he hopes rules aren't implemented on the trail.
"I hope people will respect others enough to where they [the committee] won't have to make rules," he said.
Harmon said he bikes like he drives: defensively. He alerts people when he passes them - always on the left - and slows down when he sees a large group up ahead.
East Coasters provide classes on bike safety, but Matzuc said often the best way to correct bad habits is peer pressure. He even reminds people of safety rules while he's riding on his bike.
"There are the core people in an activity that are obeying rules. That eventually takes hold for most people," he said.
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. Bikers pass each otherby CNBon the Huckleberry Trail near the Virginia Tech Airport. 2. Walkers
taking a rest create a spot of congestion while bikers pass on a
section of the Huckleberry Trail during a
recent weekend. color. Graphic: Color map by RT.