They say when it comes to riding a bike, you never forget how. More and more people are probably hoping that adage is correct.

As gasoline prices continue to soar you can bet more than one person is looking over that old bicycle gathering dust in the garage. Instead of jumping in the SUV and trekking a mile or two to work or a store, people may consider that getting a little exercise might be healthier for both the body and the wallet.

But while necessity may be the mother of intention — excuse the pun — do we really want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a bikeway project?

A story in Friday’s paper detailed how the Metropolitan Planning Organization has given five Shenango Valley communities more money to create a bikeway to Buhl Farm Park.

The group pulled money from the Sandy Creek Conservancy trail project, which needless to say will spark a bit of ire from that group unless they plan to cart their bikes to the Shenango Valley to take advantage of the proposed bikeway.

However, the Sandy Creek project has been dormant for some time, which in terms of federal funding means: You snooze, you lose!

According to officials, the bikeway project has been in the works for about seven years and $283,000 in federal money has been set aside. While it’s nice to see that kind of money coming our way, does anybody realize that the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt? Yet we can find funds to build bikeways?

Hermitage has kicked in work already that will lead to the project. However PennDOT estimates that remaining work will cost $505,000, not to mention $75,000 for inspections. That’s right, $75,000 for inspections. While I don’t know all the details, just maybe these inspectors are being a bit overpaid.

Local officials are trying to find ways to raise extra grant money for the project. There may be some available through matching funds. But that means our local municipalities will need to put up half. Are we really willing to do that?

In a way, it would be great if we had bikeways throughout the entire valley. People really could utilize a very economical way to travel. But a bikeway to Buhl Farm Park?

Many of us rode our bikes to the park as kids without the benefit of bikeways. Hard to imagine!

But this whole idea is just another problem with federal funding which is doled out, yet earmarked for only certain uses. And because we get it, we feel compelled to use it.

God bless America. Our highways are crumbling, municipalities are going bankrupt, people are losing their homes, but hey — don’t those bikeways look nice!

The Herald’s Lynn Saternow writes this column each Saturday for the Opinion page.