BATON ROUGE - A nearly 6 mile trail connecting south and north Baton Rouge opened on Tuesday, with a ribbon-cutting held at Memorial Stadium.

The Freedom Heritage Trail runs from Memorial Stadium to Monte Sano and also connects to Scotlandville Parkway. The trail was unveiled by BREC.

Along the route, cyclists will find crosswalk traffic signals, rest stations, bicycle repair equipment, and safe pedestrian and bicycle access points.

The trail is also signed, which is something Mike Martin, founder of the Bike Baton Rouge advocacy organization, said makes a real difference. Martin founded the group in 2006 after giving up his car in the 1990s and switching to cycling as his primary mode of transportation.

"It's a very well thought-out. This is one of the first routes that's been signed. So when you're riding on it, if you don't know where you're going, you can follow the signs," Martin said.

Martin also said the trail offers something beyond convenience.

"It's a much safer route. It's not all on something like this. Some of it's on the street. But to me, the biggest part is that it's encouraging. It lets people know that they can ride and not be with traffic," Martin said.

The trail carries the name Freedom Heritage Trail in recognition of Baton Rouge's role in the civil rights movement, including bus boycotts in the 1950s and sit-ins in the 1960s.

Councilman Anthony Kenney says the trail serves an educational purpose to the community.

"We are bridging the gap and teaching everybody from young to old, adults, the history of why Baton Rouge stood at the very center of the bus boycott civil rights movement," he said.