St. Peters Is Rebuilding the Spencer Creek Trail for the Crowd Already Using It

"We've gone from selling 2–3 e bikes a week to 5–10 a week, and not one customer has come in asking for a bike based on top speed."

That line comes from an email Granada Bicycles sent the St. Peters Board of Aldermen in August. Alderman Green read it aloud at the Aug. 13, 2026 meeting. Granada has been a family-owned shop in St. Peters for 28 years, after 20 years in St. Charles. By its own count, its e-bike sales have roughly tripled over the past three years.

Those riders mostly end up on the Spencer Creek Trail. This fall the City is working on that trail in two ways at once. A construction crew is set to rebuild the crossing at Millwood Drive, and the Board is still deciding which e-bikes belong on sidewalks. Both come from the same pressure. A path built decades ago for neighborhood strolls is being turned into part of a regional greenway, and more people are already using it than it was designed for.

A neighborhood path being drafted into the Centennial Greenway

Great Rivers Greenway describes the Spencer Creek Trail as following the general route of Spencer Creek for about 3.75 miles, from McClay Road to Mexico Road at St. Peters City Centre. Along the way it passes City Centre Park, the Rec-Plex and City Hall. The agency is just as plain about its condition. Many sections "were built decades ago and need replacement or significant repairs," and others don't meet its greenway design standards.

The goal is to extend the Centennial Greenway from McClay Road, at Harvester Church-The Nazarene, all the way to City Centre. That means wider paving, new bridges, ADA-compliant grades and new signs. On the other side of McClay, the existing Centennial Greenway section runs 3.88 miles from the Katy Trail through Schaefer Park to the Spencer Creek Trail. Once the two are joined, the creek path behind Ollie's Fun Forest becomes one continuous route to the Katy Trail.

The City started on this before the greenway plan was finished. In a July 2024 notice, the City said Parks crews were replacing the old asphalt from Showboat Circle south past Sutter's Mill to Willott Road with a 12-foot-wide concrete trail and two feet of shoulder, and expected the work to last through that autumn. That stretch was being built to Great Rivers Greenway specifications so it could join the Centennial Greenway later. The section runs past Spencer Creek Park at 200 Sutters Mill Road.

The next problem spot is a few neighborhoods north.

What happens at Millwood Drive this fall

At the July 23 work session, Parks & Recreation Service Manager Dan Emrick told the Board that Great Rivers Greenway has spent about $400,000 studying the segment between McClay Road and Ollie's Fun Forest. He singled out one spot. "There is the alignment at Millwood and Tanglewood subdivision that's in need of a lot of attention," he said.

If you saw the $320,000 figure in earlier coverage, that was the planning estimate Emrick gave in July. The $361,656 is the bid the Board actually approved in August.

Drivers will feel the road closure more than anything else. The City expects to close Millwood Drive for three to six weeks, during working hours only. When Alderman Barclay asked whether the work would shrink the road to one lane, as on Spencer Road, Emrick said it would close both lanes. The detour is long, so the City plans to let school buses through and keep routes running normally. As of early October, the City hasn't announced a start date. The only timing on record is "likely in the October/November timeframe."

One caution if you check Great Rivers Greenway's project page. It still says the greenway between Showboat Circle and Sutters Mill Road is closed for work. That describes the same stretch the City announced rebuilding in 2024, not this fall's Millwood project.

The e-bike bill stalled over who the trail is for

A wider, smoother trail draws more riders, and more riders traveling at different speeds is the problem the Board took up in July. The current city code already bans Class 3 e-bikes from multi-use trails. Bill 26-105 would extend that ban to sidewalks. Its proposed wording is "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any electric bicycle other than a Class 1 or Class 2 electric bicycle on any multi-use trail or any sidewalk in this City."

When the bill reached the Aug. 13 meeting, the aldermen didn't split along simple lines. They mostly disagreed about which part of the problem the bill actually addressed:

• Alderman Barclay supported it. He pointed to resident reports of near collisions with pedestrians. His argument was that if Class 3 bikes are already barred from the wider trails, they shouldn't be allowed on narrower sidewalks with more pedestrians and pets.
• Granada Bicycles argued in its email that throttle-controlled Class 2 bikes ridden by young riders cause more trouble than pedal-assist Class 3 bikes. It asked for parent education, age guidelines, and signs about yielding and stopping.
• Alderman Green said he would vote no. Many neighborhoods have no sidewalks, so Class 3 riders would be pushed onto roads like Mexico Road and Mid Rivers Drive. He suggested an age limit might be easier to enforce.
• Alderman Kuppler also planned to vote no. He said it would be more practical to regulate speed and behavior than bike class, partly because some bikes can switch between classes.
• Alderman Bateman asked whether the rules could be limited by age so adult riders keep access. City Attorney Young said he would look into it.

Alderman Townsend said the City recognizes there is an e-bike safety problem and wanted to rework the bill rather than vote it down. The Board tabled it and sent it back to a work session. Barclay added an amendment requiring the Board to take it up again within two months. The final vote was 6–1. Two months from Aug. 13 puts the deadline in mid-October. The bill wasn't on either the work-session or the regular-session agenda for Sept. 24.

What applies on the trail right now

Until the Board acts, Class 3 e-bikes remain barred from multi-use trails, as they already were, and the proposed sidewalk ban isn't law. In July, Emrick said Parks had started installing large trail signs explaining e-bike classes and trail etiquette, with all of them expected up by September. Some would go on existing posts and others needed new posts. Police Chief Ramirez told the Board officers had begun patrolling the trails and talking with e-bike riders, and had held three education sessions on current rules. He said radar speed signs aren't an option because federal rules allow them on trails only alongside a posted speed limit sign.

The rebuilt Millwood crossing will be safer for every kind of rider. Retaining walls, a concrete barrier and ADA curb ramps are there to give walkers, strollers, cyclists and e-bike riders a cleaner place to meet a street. The question of who rides where on the sidewalks on either side is still open.

Dates to watch through spring

1. October through December 2026: main construction at the Millwood Drive crossing, with a 3- to 6-week, work-hours-only closure of both lanes expected sometime in that window.
2. By mid-October 2026: the deadline the Board set for itself to take Bill 26-105 back up at a work session.
3. April 2027: expected final completion of the Millwood crossing once landscaping is done.

If you have questions about the project, Great Rivers Greenway takes them at [email protected] or (314) 436-7009, and you can sign up on its project page for email updates on this segment.

Living near a greenway that's getting rebuilt changes how your street works day to day, from detours to how close you are to the trail. If you're near Millwood, Tanglewood or anywhere along Spencer Creek and wondering how the finished greenway might affect your home's value, Julie Moran can give you a candid, local answer. Get Your Free Home Valuation.