2008 – Present Snapshot:
When most people use a bike trail, they see a smooth path, a bridge over a creek, or a convenient connection between destinations. What they don’t see are the years of planning, engineering, coordination, and problem-solving required to make that experience possible.
For nearly two decades, TWM has partnered with the St. Clair County Transit District to expand and enhance the County’s trail system, helping transform what began as a rail-corridor trail concept into a connected network that links communities, neighborhoods, transit stations, parks, schools, and employers throughout St. Clair County.
Today, MetroBikeLink serves as much more than a recreational amenity. It has become the backbone of the County’s growing trail system, connecting to Swansea’s Richland Creek Bikeway, Belleville’s Richland Creek Greenway, Shiloh’s Air Mobility Trail, and providing opportunities for future trail expansion throughout the region. But creating those connections was far from simple.
Connecting Communities Through Challenging Terrain
TWM designed over 12 miles of the 18-mile MetroBikeLink Trail, which extends from the Fairview Heights MetroLink Station to MidAmerica Airport. While the goal was straightforward, the environment presented unique challenges.
Much of the trail corridor runs adjacent to the MetroLink light rail system, which required careful coordination with transit operations while navigating difficult terrain, waterways, existing infrastructure, and constrained right-of-way.
Along the route, the design team incorporated eight steel-beam bridges, five pre-engineered truss-bridge structures, nine retaining walls, enclosed drainage systems, culvert improvements, isolated lighting, ADA-compliant facilities, and numerous trail connections. Each segment required balancing safety, accessibility, environmental considerations, and constructability while maintaining uninterrupted transit operations nearby.
A Network Takes Shape
The Shiloh Trail Extension, a 2.9-mile segment created new connections between residential neighborhoods and Scott Air Force Base. At first glance, the project appeared to be a simple trail extension. In reality, it required solving a series of complex engineering challenges.
Sections of the trail run parallel to both MetroLink and Norfolk Southern Railroad corridors, requiring extensive coordination with multiple agencies and stakeholders throughout design and construction. The project included a Z-gate pedestrian crossing at the railroad, multiple creek crossings, and a unique soil-nailed retaining wall that allowed the trail to pass beneath existing Illinois Route 158 bridges.
To preserve wetlands and minimize environmental impacts, TWM incorporated boardwalk structures through low-lying areas rather than traditional embankment construction. Bridges spanning Loop Creek and Buss Farm Creek created critical trail connections while maintaining natural drainage patterns and minimizing disturbance. The result was a trail segment that not only improved connectivity but also blended seamlessly into the surrounding environment.
Rethinking Safety in Belleville
Another key project focused on improving safety along an existing on-road bicycle route in Belleville. The McKinley Realignment section replaced approximately 0.7 miles of roadway-based trail with a new off-road separated trail over Carlyle Avenue and McKinley Drive.
Carlyle Avenue carries more than 10,000 vehicles per day, while McClintock Road sees nearly 9,000 daily vehicles. Eliminating at-grade crossings and separating trail users from vehicle traffic became a primary objective.
To achieve this, TWM designed a series of elevated structures that carried trail users over major roadways and waterways. The project included a three-span steel bridge over Carlyle Avenue, a steel beam bridge crossing McClintock Road, and a truss bridge spanning a nearby creek.
With limited right-of-way and challenging grades, nearly the entire trail segment had to be elevated. Lightweight fill materials were incorporated into the MSE retaining walls to minimize settlement impacts on the adjacent light rail line while maintaining long-term performance. The result was a safer corridor for cyclists, pedestrians, and families using the trail and for vehicular traffic on the roadways.
Supporting the Broader Transit Corridor
While many MetroBikeLink projects focused on expanding and improving the trail network, TWM’s role also extended to infrastructure supporting the region’s transit system itself.
As part of the current MetroLink extension from Scott Air Force Base to MidAmerica Airport, TWM provided engineering services for several key components of the 5.3-mile corridor. The extension expanded transit access to another St. Louis area airport while creating new connections for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.
TWM’s work began with hydraulic and hydrologic analyses that guided the design of drainage systems throughout the corridor, including ditches, culverts, storm sewers, and drainage outlets designed to accommodate existing and future runoff conditions. In addition to drainage design, TWM developed approximately 1.5 miles of new public roadway and a separate parallel bike trail between Rieder Road and Airport Boulevard. The roadway and trail were constructed on a new alignment and designed to provide safe, efficient connections to the expanding transit network. Services included horizontal and vertical alignment design, driveway grading, and access improvements serving MetroLink substations, interlockings, and relay houses.
TWM also designed two major bridge crossings over Silver Creek and Little Silver Creek and prepared maintenance of traffic plans where construction activities affected nearby roadways. These improvements are helping to support the continued growth of the MetroLink system while creating new multimodal connections throughout the corridor.
More Than Design
While trail users experience the finished product, TWM’s role extended far beyond design. Over decades of phased construction, our firm provided surveying, hydraulic analysis, structural engineering, ADA design, lighting design, public involvement, grant writing, land acquisition support, construction staking, shop drawing review, construction observation, pay application review, and project closeout services.
Several project segments involved complex funding arrangements through both federal and state transportation programs, requiring close collaboration with Bi-State Development and multiple regulatory agencies throughout procurement and construction. From preliminary surveys to final punch list completion, TWM remained actively involved at every step, helping to secure $9 million of federal, $13 million of state, and $2 million of local (MEPRD) grant funding.
As part of a fast-tracked ARRA grant award, TWM also assisted Bi-State Development with the design of a 3.5-mile aggregate access road connecting Memorial Hospital Station and Fairview Heights Station to allow for critical erosion repairs. The aggregate road became the base for a future bike trail within the light rail corridor.
From Corridor to Community Asset
Infrastructure projects are often measured in miles, budgets, or construction schedules. The MetroBikeLink Trail tells a different story. A story about creating connections, between neighborhoods and transit, between communities and recreation, and between people and places they may not have otherwise reached.
Those connections did not happen by accident. Drawing on its land development expertise, TWM helped extend the reach of the MetroBikeLink beyond the trail itself. Our team worked proactively with developers to incorporate direct trail access into new developments, including The Villages at Wingate in Shiloh, while also coordinating connections to neighboring communities in Fairview Heights, Belleville, Swansea, and Shiloh. These efforts helped strengthen the network of connections that defines the MetroBikeLink corridor.
Today, thousands of residents and visitors use the MetroBikeLink Trail network for commuting, exercise, recreation, and transportation. Many cross bridges, ride through corridors, and travel along pathways without realizing the engineering complexity beneath them. That’s exactly how great infrastructure should work.
What began as a trail connection has grown into a regional network spanning more than 40 miles of interconnected trails and bike paths throughout St. Clair County, linking approximately 8,500 homes within a half-mile of the MetroBikeLink and extending access to roughly an additional 12,000 to 13,000 homes across the region.
For TWM, the MetroBikeLink Trail represents more than a collection of projects. It represents years of partnership, innovation, and problem-solving that helped create one of the most significant active transportation networks in Southern Illinois—one that will continue connecting communities for generations to come.
