Response to St. Louis Post Dispatch article

I apologize if this comment is posted more than once. I tried to post to the original thread but am not sure that it was received.

Trek, in answer to your question, the $47.5 million in improvements includes bridge/culvert repair and replacement, repairing sloughs, and recrowning/resurfacing the trail.

Specifically, in regards to bridges and culverts, there are over 1,000 on the trail, many of which date to the original MKT railroad and are either in need of repair or replacement. We've begun repairing or replacing the most critical onces, such as the Moniteau Creek bridge in Rocheport, which was re-opened this May. Another example is the Taylor Branch culvert project near Pilot Grove, that was repaired last year. The Little Femme Osage bridge near Weldon Spring is slated to be replaced this year, as well. There are myriad other culverts that are too small that need to be replaced with larger culverts. The recent washouts in the Rhineland area provide an example of what happens when culverts are too small to accommodate the influx of storm water and are bypassed or overtopped by the water, causing the trail surface to be washed away.

In addition to bridges and culverts, there are areas of trail along the Missouri River or other rivers/streams that are experiencing major sloughing from the force of water scouring away the edges of the trail. Some of these areas will require engineered fixes that will be pretty costly.

Lastly, much of the 240-mile trail corridor is in need of resurfacing and recrowning. There are several sections of the trail that haven't been resurfaced since they were constructed 20 years ago. Recrowning the trail is critical to ensuring that water sheets off the trail to minimize washouts. Resurfacing the trail will assist in preventing vegetation from growing in the trail surface. Both will require several thousand tons of base rock and surface material which, as you can imagine, can be costly

I really appreciate the question and interest in state park funding. I hope the above explanation helps. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have other questions or comments: dawn.fredrickson@dnr.mo.gov. Thanks!

Thanks Dawn. How many of these projects are critical to the existence of the trail though? And what is the cost of those?

It appears that some of the work that you mentioned may lead to major expense if it is not corrected. Is it all in this category or is some of it in the category of want and not really need?

Again, good questions, but hard to answer. Recrowning/resurfacing the trail is probably not critical in all sections right at the moment but will eventually reach the stage where it does become critical. Those areas that still have the original surface from 20 years ago definitely are in need of recrowning/resurfacing. Recrowning/resurfacing would probably account for about 25% of the total estimated cost. Bridge/culvert repair and replacement is a little more problematic. Some areas need to be addressed soon and, as I mentioned, we've begun addressing those that are most critical. Others can probably wait. But, as you mentioned, sometimes deferring repairs leads to greater expense in the long run. This would account for the bulk of the cost esimate. Additionally, there are several major sloughs that are going to require substantial retention structures, which account for about 15% of the cost estimate. This doesn't account for the cost of any flood repairs we may have if Mo. River reaches predicted flood stages this summer. But, I don't want to make it sound like all doom and gloom. We're able to keep plugging away at all the needed improvements because of the outstanding support we receive from Missouri citizens and Katy users!