“Frankly I’m a little jealous,” longtime Slidell resident and District 76 state Rep. Kevin Pearson said.

He was talking about the lack of walking and bicycle paths in eastern St. Tammany Parish. From a cyclist’s perspective the parish is lopsided when it comes to walking and biking paths.

Western St. Tammany cities like Mandeville have several venues for those looking for some extracurricular activity, like the Lakefront that boasts more than a mile of asphalted bike paths, or the Northlake Nature Center that also contains miles upon miles of paths for hiking, running, walking or just nature-watching. There’s Fontainebleau State Park with several thousand acres for hiking and cycling. There’s also Riverside State Park, Pelican Park and many other rural areas perfect for trailblazers. Mandeville alone recently approved a project that would add $1 million worth of new and restored sidewalks to the city.

Bike paths like this one on Airport Road in Slidell is exactly what residents in eastern St. Tammany want more of but with the Tammany Trace ending near Airport Road, the rest of the city is left out. (Staff Photo by Chad Ruiz)

“What does Slidell or eastern St. Tammany have?” Slidell resident Sue deRada asked.

Founder of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Committee, deRada moved to Slidell about six years ago after living in Abita Springs for some time. From her home there, the avid cyclist would access the Tammany Trace safely and with ease. Forced to move to Slidell because of her husband’s job, it’s become a headache to gain access to the 30-plus miles of the Trace, basically the only sizeable pathway eastern St. Tammany offers and that has many Slidell and Pearl River residents troubled.

The parish’s Rails to Trails program formed the Trace several years ago from the abandoned Illinois Central Railroad corridor. It features 31 miles of scenic pathways, 31 bridges and several trailheads along the way.

The Trace stretches from the heart of Covington, weaves its way south across Interstate 12 and into Mandeville where it makes a 90-degree turn east running adjacent to Interstate 12. It abruptly ends near Airport Road in Slidell, leaving the majority of the 30,000 residents to travel to the temporary trailhead off U.S. Highway 190 to gain access to the Trace.

For the last year or so, deRada has made several efforts to get the Trace extended to its planned destination, Heritage Park, or at least designate separate bike paths to connect with it that also connects to the park.

So far, she’s gotten more and more frustrated.

“I’ve met with parish councilmen, Kevin Davis, attended local and parish council meetings, but still nothing,” deRada said. Even after generating a map where possible bike paths could be designated leading to the Trace, still nothing.

But it’s not that simple, Parish Councilman Steve Stefancik said. The tracks the parish purchased as part of the Rails-to-Trails project are not all abandoned. The Trace ends at the beginning of Slidell because the railroad tracks beyond Thompson Road are still in use, Stefancik said.

They were forced to purchase that section of railway at the time because it was an all-or-nothing type of deal, the councilman said. With that in mind, the parish negotiated a deal and purchased Camp Salmen, or the old Boy Scout camp as locals call it, with hopes to restore the campsite and connect a trails system to the Trace that would eventually hook up with Heritage Park.

That will takes time and money, Stefancik said, and restoration work has only just begun in the area so it will likely be several more years before the Trace is extended further into Slidell.

In the meantime, Stefancik said the parish is looking at other possible solutions like construction of a recreation facility like Pelican Park in Mandeville, but again, that takes time and money.

Pearson and deRada both agree community involvement and commitment could lead to faster changes, which is why they’re encouraging people to rally together. DeRada encourages anyone interested to visit the BI-PAC website at www.bi-pac.org, or call her at 863-7868.