ISU officials teamed up with local cyclists to discuss ideas for campus biking improvements, including widening, extending and linking bike paths.

About $50,000 of the $2 million generated annually from parking fees and fines is allocated to campus biking concerns, Department of Public Safety Capt. Doug Houghton told the Friends of Central Iowa Biking Club on Tuesday night.

The club members hope for greater access on and off campus and a way to link campus routes with longer trail options, said Jim Graham, vice president of the club.

“The trails in Smith and Brookside are real, real nice trails, but they’re so short,” said Graham, a retired long-distance technician. “It’s hard to get outside of town. Most serious bikers like to ride at least an hour or so, somewhere around 15 miles.”

Meeting with local groups is one way to determine the possibility of new projects and the impact of old ones, said Houghton, program manager for the DPS Parking Division.

“A group like this can be very helpful in gauging the use of any improvements and what improvements need to be made,” he said. “Also, it is helpful in making the political groups that control funds understand that the improvements need to be made.”

Previous DPS projects, such as providing bike parking on campus, making areas more accessible and discouraging cyclists from locking bikes to trees, sidewalk fences and disability ramps, have only been “marginally successful,” said Houghton.

“Now we’re looking into doing cost studies on current bike paths such as the one along Lincoln Way,” he said. “I’m anticipating those projects, coupled with finishing existing parking projects, to cost in the hundreds of thousands.”

The Friends of Central Iowa Biking club members can help recognize problems that DPS has not addressed.

Club members’ ideas to improve cycling conditions on the ISU campus included widening bike paths from six to eight feet in order to better accommodate pedestrian and bike traffic.

Cathy Brown, program coordinator for ISU Facilities Planning and Management, also was on hand to take suggestions.

Hoping to focus on the immediate campus area, Brown steered the dialogue away from off-campus concerns.

“We’re developing cost estimates for improvements on campus,” she said. “We take input we receive from groups such as this, the condition of existing facilities, as well as how one project could be maximized to link two existing paths to each other.”

Sometimes projects have to be postponed when it concerns land that is not owned by the university, Brown said.

“We take this into account when setting priorities,” she said. “If we can work with the city of Ames or other fund sources, we might wait [on projects].”

In time, Brown said, she would like to see the existing bike trails extend north of campus through the horse pasture and up around Veenker Memorial Golf Course on Stange Road.

“I think it could be a real asset to the community,” she said.