The City of Ames and Iowa State are setting plans to work hand in hand to serve bicyclists better.

Problems have been reported on the bike paths along Lincoln Way and Elwood Drive, the Squaw Creek Bridge and 13th Street, and Squaw Creek Bridge and Ridgewood.

Most of the problems were caused by confusion between the city and the university as to which bike paths belonged to which organization.

In some cases the university would clean off a corner from one side and the city would sweep by later and cover up what the university had already cleaned.

Dave Cole, street management foreman for Ames, said, “We (the city) were not aware of the problem until the Ames/ISU Bicycle Committee brought it to our attention.”

Once they were aware of the problem, they tried to contact the university to work out the difficulties, he said.

Cole also said the city did not pay much attention to the bike paths because they are not high on the snow-removal priority list.

He said the city has streets, alleys and parking lots higher on its list.

It will try to work with the university to eliminate future problems in a proactive manner, he said.

“ISU has taken care of the problems effectively,” Cole said. He said the city was not aware some of the areas were city property, but the problems were straightened out immediately.

Jeff Klopfenstein, freshman in pre-business, said, “They’ve done a pretty good job of cleaning the paths so far. I haven’t had any problems with the sidewalks or streets.”

Cole also said the university has better equipment for bike path clean-up than the city. The university has tractors with brooms that are small enough to clean such a small area.

Some students seem happy with the university’s efforts to clear bike paths.

“I haven’t seen any ice or anything. I always see people cleaning,” said Carrieann Clarkson, a freshman in early childhood education.

“It’s cleaner than my yard,” she said.

Cole was pleased with the negotiations, and hopes that any problems in the future will be worked out through communication.

He hopes the two organizations could “swap” areas sometimes for more convenience.

However, he did not know if this would work since the university would probably get more bike paths in the future.