By: Sabrina Ahmed
sahmed@klkntv.com
In this drought, it's not just the crops that are hurting. Here in Lincoln, bike paths are also seeing the effects of little rain this summer.
One path in particular, the Murdock Trail, now has cracks so big that bikers need to watch where their tires are going.
As if bikers didn't already have enough to think about: other cyclists, pedestrians, debris. Now they need to keep an eye out for the cracks on the trail.
Between 56th and 84th Streets on the Murdock Trail, cracks have been growing all summer. As the ground gets dryer, it's separating and taking the trail with it. The crushed lime stone on the trails isn't as tough as concrete and can't handle these conditions.
Some cracks are as many as eight inches deep. Carissa Martin bikes to work everyday. "Usually our trails in Lincoln are really great, but I think after all this weather we've had, they've gotten a little damaged so things aren't quite as safe as they have been," said Martin.
The city says they're trying to make a few quick fixes on the trails for now, but they're just going to keep getting worse if this drought doesn't get better. The real fixing of the path will have to happen after we see some more rain.
"Some of the cracks are so severe we don't actually think that the sections of the trail will come back together. So, we'll have to do some more aggressive maintenance on them at some point in time," said Terry Genrich with Lincoln Parks and Rec.
The city says they can't close the trails in the city because there are so many access points. THey say some of the trails outside of the city limits are closed right now because of problems like these. So far, Parks and Rec hasn't seen any injuries from the cracks. They say they want to get the word out before it gets to that point.
