Apple Valley Bike Routes
Posted by Bikeverywhere, June 23rd, 2014Apple Valley is an auto centric suburb that is trying to be more bike friendly. It is only partially succeeding. The city has built a lot of miles of bike trails, but because the town is laid out in a cul-de-sac and arterial pattern, the only logical place to put the trails is along major auto through ways. The result is a noisy and sometimes exhaust filled bike ride. It isn’t working so well for cyclists. I haven’t seen more than a couple of riders in several days of research. The riders I do see are either hard-core roadies or young teens who don’t have driver’s licenses.
That’s too bad, because the few through roads with little traffic are quite exceptional. Apple Valley has a pleasant mix of rolling hills and the bike routes south of the Zoo and Lebanon Hill Park (132nd, Diamond Path, Evermoor Pky) roll through quiet residential neighborhoods with mature trees shading the road and well maintained houses and yards. Continuing east on Connemara Trail in Rosemount, the route moves into newer developments with younger trees and a wider road.
Connemara Trail now runs through to Akron (updates will appear on the Mobile Twin Cities Bike Map_2014 in July and on the 2015 printed version of the map). Turn right on Akron and drop south into U-More Park, a unique area owned by the U of M. More on that in the next post.