Hanover -- If you've been paying close attention lately, you might have noticed some new green and white metal signs stamped with the image of a bicycle by roadsides in Hanover, Lebanon, Norwich and Hartford.

But if you haven't noticed them, you're not alone. Despite coming with a $10,000 price tag and being a dozen years in the planning, the signs for the Upper Valley Loop Trail aren't particularly noticeable, even by those who would be their target audience, like Jim Giller.

Giller is a competitive cyclist who regularly rides his bike 21 miles from his home in Woodstock to his job in the orthopedic department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. He says that for the most part, it's a beautiful ride.

“My gosh, summer around here, riding a bike is awesome. Even riding along the Connecticut, it's beautiful,” he said.

But once he veers away from the river, off of the wide shoulders of Route 10 and onto Route 120, things get less pleasant. “It's pretty tight and congested there, especially in the afternoon,” Giller said. “It's crazy.”

Growing up in Seattle -- a city known for its cyclist culture -- Giller is no stranger to pedaling alongside traffic. He said that he loves the concept of the 16-mile Upper Valley Loop Trail, designed to connect the four core economic towns of the region and promote commuter cycling.

He just hadn't heard of it yet. Nor has he seen it, though he travels along a stretch of the trail nearly every day.

The idea for the loop trail came to the founders of the Upper Valley Trails Alliance at their very first meeting back in 1999, said Executive Director Russell Hirschler. Originally, the idea was for an off-road path, such as the Northern Rail Trail or the Wilder Multi-Use Path, that would provide a safe passage for pedestrians on their way to school or work or out for some exercise.

But in 2008, when that hadn't yet happened, the Trails Alliance decided they needed to do something to get the project going.

The new plan sought to create an “on-road cycling route” -- a bike lane -- using the “safest existing infrastructure.” To determine which roads were safest for cyclists, a 12-person steering committee with members from each of the four towns met for 18 months to decide on a route.

Determining the best route was the easy part, Hirschler said. “The hard part was finding funding for the signs … and making sure the signs were accepted under state standards.”

He said that town governments and Department of Public Works officials were instrumental in getting the signs up, as were the Trails Alliance's community partners, the Norwich Women's Club and Smart Commute Upper Valley.

“The time that we've worked actively on the project has been about just over two years,” said Hirschler. “It took two years to get signs up. That's how long it takes to get even simple trials like this on the ground.”

“We're calling this Phase One,” he continued. Phase Two will, ideally, move the loop off of roadsides and onto trails in less traffic-congested areas.

“As opportunities evolve and towns and communities develop more infrastructure for bike and pedestrian use, there will be more opportunities to move off-road,” Hirschler said. But as the “large price tag,” of the Wilder Multi-Use Trail showed, that can be an expensive proposition.

“The idea is slowly, over time, as in 10 to 15 years,” he added. “Being realistic, I don't think it'll happen sooner than that.”

In the meantime, Hirschler and the steering committee hope to promote the loop's current incarnation as a way to get more people out of their cars. There will be an inaugural ride around the loop on Aug. 3, and Hirschler plans to involve local businesses.

“We're working with businesses in the Hanover-Lebanon area, where the majority of our employers are … to help their employees change their commuting habits,” Hirschler said. “That's one way were going to see a lot more people using the loop and having a greater impact on the Upper Valley by decreasing our carbon emissions.”

But though Phase One is said to be complete, those who bike in the Upper Valley say there's a lot more to be done.

Some, such as Jonathan Wilmot, who's been riding his bike from his home in Meriden to work at Omer and Bob's sporting good store in Lebanon since 1996, said he was unaware the officially designated loop existed.

“I haven't heard people talk about it here in the shop or people coming in,” Wilmot said.

Others, such as Jan Botma of Lebanon, knew of the loop, but said she doesn't think it's ready for the average cyclist just yet. Signs are up, but sections along Route 120 in Hanover and Lebanon and along Route 4 in West Lebanon and Hartford are lacking a clearly marked bike lane. And in other places, such as on Old Pine Tree Cemetery Road, the existing bike lane doesn't offer much protection for a cyclist heading northeast, Botma said.

“I'll tell you what, I've been doing this for years,” said Botma, who also works in the orthopedic department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. “I try to get people to come with me to work, and when I say I take Route 120, people say, ‘that's just too nerve-wracking and frightening for me to take.' It’s kind of like being in a NASCAR race.”

Currently, the description of the trail from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance website says that “the specific route alignment between Mount Support Road at Lahaye Drive in Lebanon, and Route 120 at DHMC North Access Road is currently being finalized and is therefore unsigned.

The use of a wide paved shoulder along Route 120 can be used to complete the Loop for those people comfortable with the higher automobile speeds and traffic volume on Route 120 -- that section is signed as a State Bike Route. The Trails Alliance is currently working with DHMC to consider safer options.”

Botma, an experienced cyclist, said she was hit in the early morning hours by a car while making a left-hand turn off of Route 120 several years ago. And since Dartmouth-Hitchcock, one of the largest employers in the Upper Valley, is situated off Route 120, it will be difficult to encourage people to bike to work, as is one of the goals of the Loop Trail, until employees there have a safer option.

“That piece of the route is something that I'm hopeful is in the process and I'm hopeful that’ll get more people to get out on their bicycles,” Botma said.

She's involved in a program at the hospital that encourages employees to make healthy lifestyle choices, and said she's noticed an uptick in the number of people who bike to work since the price of gas has increased.

So while she supports the idea of the Upper Valley Loop Trail, “I don't think everything is complete yet,” Botma said. “I think a lot more work has to be done to get what we actually need.

“What I envision and hope for in the future is safer routes that are off and away from the road and especially away from Route 120. It's dangerous and there's no lane for bikes … You’re always in a situation where drivers are getting angry with you, and … there’s no easy way to handle that.”

For a map of the Upper Valley Loop Trail, go to www.uvtrails.org and click on “trail finder.”

Krista Langlois can be reached at klanglois@vnews.com or 603-727-3305.