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Motorcycle Awareness Ride: Event expected to be smaller this year

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By Dustin Lemmon | Friday, May 2, 2008 12:07 AM CDT | () comments

This year’s Bi-State Motorcycle Awareness Ride is not expected to be as long or include as many participants, but it will still block traffic on some streets of the Quad-Cities Saturday afternoon.

Tim Wassell, promotional director for the ride, said organizers expect about 500 riders in this year’s event. He said around 200 have pre-registered.

“We do have approval for as many as 2,000, but we don’t expect to be anywhere near that,” he said. “It’s not that hard to avoid us, and with the length of this year’s ride, we don’t expect” a disruption.

The ride starts at 1:30 p.m. at the fairgrounds in East Moline at the intersection of Avenue of the Cities and Archer Drive. Registration starts there at

11 a.m. Riders will gather at 1 p.m.

The ride will make several turns along the way, crossing Moline, Rock Island, the Centennial Bridge and Davenport before ending at Davenport West High School.

Some of the major streets that will briefly close include Kennedy Drive in East Moline, portions of Illinois 92 and

4th and Division streets in

Davenport.

Wassell asked motorists to be patient if they have to wait while police close various intersections and streets Saturday. He noted this year’s route does not disrupt traffic on Interstate 74 for those looking to get across the Quad-Cities without disruptions.

For the second year in a row, there was some debate about whether the Illinois cities would provide police assistance for the ride before each city council approved the issue last month.

The Bi-State Motorcycle Awareness Council is paying for police overtime in Moline, East Moline and Rock Island, which led the group to require registration for the first time. It will cost $10 for riders to register Saturday.

Wassell noted that the purpose of the ride, which is in its 24th year, is to remind motorists that motorcycles are again hitting the road as the weather warms up. He asked other drivers to check their blinds spots and use caution when making lane changes.

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com.

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