Bill Chipman Palouse Trail

Published 27 October, 2024 --amj

Took my bicycle to Pullman, WA yesterday to ride the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. The rail trail¹runs runs for 11.25 km (7 mi) between Pullman and Moscow, ID.²

The experience was super disappointing. Cracks in the asphalt (bitumen) surface are so numerous and so big and so poorly patched that it's completely unusable as a transportation corridor. By numerous, I mean cracks every 3 to 20 meters for the length of the part I rode. Most cracks were much wider than my 26"x2.00" tires.

The trail isn't practical for bicycle commuting because the cracks make traveling at an efficient speed difficult. I spent so much time focusing on the cracks and standing in the pedals that I could never focus on anything else or gain any speed. And they would be absolutely damaging to the wheels of a bike loaded with groceries. I suppose an #ebike with large low pressure tires wouldn't be affected too badly, but that's an exception to what most cyclists use.

The attached photos are just a representative few and illustrate the magnitude of the problem. No wonder I almost never see more than an occasional walker or runner. Cyclists are extremely rare. I gave up and turned around after less than 4 km.

The City of Moscow independently maintains the trail from the Idaho/Washington border to its connection with the Paradise Path. Perhaps I'll attempt to ride that segment of the trail someday and record its condition.

Oh, well. Money wasted by #government agencies, and a really bad look for the spending of transportation dollars on cycling.

Photo of a crack in a ~2.5 meter (8 ft) wide asphalt trail that runs across the full width of the trail. The crack is about 12 cm wide and is patched with tar. The tar is sinking in to the crack so much the afternoon sun casts a shadow in the crack.

Photo showing a bicycle wheel with a 5cm wide tire perpendicular on a narrow portion of a crack in a ~2.5 meter asphalt trail that runs across the full width of the trail. The rest of the crack is at least 10 cm wide. The crack is patched with tar. The tar is sinking so much the afternoon sun casts a shadow in the crack. A size 42 (11 U.S./9 U.K.) hiking boot is visible in the photo. The boot is as wide as the rest of the crack from side to side.

Photo of two cracks in a ~2.5 meter (8 ft) wide asphalt trail that runs across the full width of the trail. The cracks are about 5 cm wide and are patched with tar. The tar is sinking in to the cracks so much the afternoon sun casts a shadow in the cracks. A third crack runs down the center of the trail for about 3 meters and is also patched with sinking tar.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_trail

2: https://whitmancounty.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/Bill-Chipman-Palouse-Trail-3