Bonners Ferry Rotary Funding Designated Bike Route

Hardly known as a bicycling community, Idaho' friendliest city may now be on the verge of becoming just that.

The Bonners Ferry Rotary International is financially backing signage for a 10.5-mile bicycle route dubbed "A River Runs Through It," which has been given the green light as the first designated bike route in Boundary County.

The route will go from the Boundary County Fairgrounds to the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center along Riverside Road. Riders could then connect onto the refuge's 6.2-mile Auto Tour loop, which winds through a portion of the 2,744-acre refuge.

Officially designated by the Boundary County Commissioners, the round-trip route will parallel the Kootenai River and fields of farm land also shouldering the road.

Bonners Ferry Rotary Club president Dave Walter gave a $525 check to Jay Cohn, who originally presented the idea of having a designated bicycle route to county commissioners earlier this summer. The funds will be used for signage that will display six designated 18-inch by 24-inch "A River Runs Through It" signs - three on each side of the roadway - along with the Rotary's circular logo at the bottom corner of the each sign.

Additionally, a black-and-yellow highway sign displaying the symbol of a bicycle below the words "Share the Road" will be posted at the start of the bike route.

"We're glad we are able to support signage for a bike path project like this," said Walter. "Rotary has been discussing doing something like this for years, and hopefully this route will be a start of bike trail that will continue and connect around and through the District 2 area."