Reply to Extending Katy Trail into KC area is chugging along

From the Kansas City Star article onlineExtending Katy Trail into area is chugging alongBy BILL GRAHAMSurveys, assessments and agreements remain to be done to get Missouri’s Katy Trail linked with the Kansas City area’s trails, officials say.The 225-mile hiking and bicycling trail already stretches from St. Charles to Clinton, mostly on abandoned rail bed. But the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which operates the trail, and Kansas City officials want to bring it into the area.That possibility opened in 2007 when the state received a $180 million settlement from AmerenUE over the 2005 collapse of the utility’s Taum Sauk reservoir in eastern Missouri. That settlement also gave the state the right to use 46 miles of abandoned Rock Island Railroad right of way controlled by the utility from Windsor to Pleasant Hill as a Katy Trail route, and it provided $18 million to pay for the costs.Also, area communities are working through the Mid-America Regional Council to use 22 separate miles of the Rock Island line from Pleasant Hill to the Leeds Industrial District as access to the Blue River and then downtown. The Union Pacific Railroad owns that right of way.For the state’s trail to Pleasant Hill, park officials are still trying to assess what engineering and construction problems they face, said spokeswoman Sue Holst.“Engineers are compiling a survey of the trail route and the natural and cultural resources,” Holst said. “We also had to determine where the actual property boundaries are.”That survey is expected to be delivered to state park managers by March 31, she said.“Once we can get that information, we can start designing the trail,”....see rest of article online

Thanks for the update Ray, I look forward to the day I can ride my bike from KC to STL.

Paulie