Almost two years after Highway 12 was expanded between Middleton and Sauk City, a 6-mile gap remains in the bike path that follows the roadway, with no immediate plans to complete it.

Add that to Dane County 's own "bridge to nowhere " -- a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the highway about seven miles northwest of Middleton that at this point doesn 't connect anything -- and the project has left some cyclists scratching their heads.

When the bike trail will be completed is "a common question that we 've been asked, " said Curt Neuhauser, DOT project development manager. "Right now we consider it complete. "

Neuhauser said the paths running north of Middleton and south of Sauk City weren 't connected for several reasons: The state decided only to pave segments considered a reasonable commuting distance to nearby municipalities such as Madison, and the land in that area, known as Springfield Hills, is considered scenic and it would have been expensive to buy the needed rights-of-way for the path.

While Dane County agrees that the original plans called for a segmented trail, county trail maps show the trails eventually will be connected.

"Our original understanding was not to have the full connection, but it did evolve into that through the public process through the parks and open space plan, " said Chris James, Dane County parks planner.

The county has a number of proposed trails and a lot are generated by citizens, advocates or nonprofit groups, he said. Dane County officials say the only likely way the trail will be finished is if a private group pays for the construction.

The future of the pedestrian bridge also is undetermined. The bridge is intended someday to connect the Ice Age Trail. But the family that owns the land on either side of the bridge is actively farming and not interested in selling now, James said.

Besides the incomplete Highway 12 path, there are two proposed trails that could someday carry bikers through the region. One would go from Middleton to Mazomanie largely along Highway 14; the other would run from Mazomanie to Sauk City and possibly up to Devil 's Lake State Park following a rail corridor.

Tim Wong, a steering committee member of the Bicycling Transportation Alliance of Dane County, said experienced cyclists know how to navigate around bike path gaps like the one on Highway 12.

"It 's a pain in the butt, but it 's not like you 're going to have to ride on Highway 12, " he said.