Katy Trail will now extend to Kansas City, Mo.

By Campbell Massie

Published Dec. 4, 2007

The idea of a long walk or bike ride has just been redefined.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is going to receive money to extend the Katy Trail so it will reach all the way to the Kansas City area.

The state settled for over $117 million with Ameren Corp. in response to the to breach of the Taum Sauk pumped-storage hydroelectric plant.

The dam ruptured in December 2005, releasing one billion gallons of water that rushed into the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. The waters that rushed out of the dam washed away trees and top soil, exposing bedrock as they ran down the side of Proffit Mountain, stated a news release from Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.

For natural resource damages, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will receive $11.8 million of the settlement, which will go toward the creation of a new state park, stated a news release from Gov. Matt Blunts' office. The project will extend the Katy Trail toward Kansas City, Mo.

Division of State Parks spokeswoman Sue Holst said the new portion of the trail will connect Windsor on the Katy Trail to Pleasant Hill in the Kansas City metro area.

"We have always wanted to develop a state-wide trail," Holst said.

The Katy Trail stretches 225 miles in Missouri from St. Charles to Clinton, but the new initiative will make a 46-mile connection with the Katy Trail State Park into Kansas City, Mo., Holst said.

The new link of the trail will be built beside the rail bed, which is different because the other part in the state park was built on the rail bed. The design and planning stage may take longer because it does not follow the same format as the rest of the Katy Trail State Park, Holst said.

The settlement agreement makes Ameren Corp.'s Rock Island Corridor railroad between Windsor and Pleasant Hill part of the new trail and gives them a perpetual trail license. That means the state will not have to acquire the majority of the land to add the section of trail, Holst said.

According to a news release from the Missouri Bicycle Federation, the completion of the trail is a project that has long been supported by the people in the Kansas City area.

"Over 5,000 emails, letters and calls that have been received by the Department of Natural Resources since the Taum Sauk incident made it clear that Ameren would be liable for millions of dollars in damages," Missouri Bicycle Federation Executive Director Brent Hugh said in the release.

The trail is the most heavily trafficked in the St. Louis area, the same effect is expected in the Kansas City area as well, Holst said.

According to the Missouri Bicycle Federation news release, agencies have shown support by expressing interest in creating connecting trails.

"The Katy Trail is already the longest rail trail in the country, and expanding it 46 miles towards Kansas City and another 11 miles on the eastern end will just widen the margin," Hugh said in the release. "The statewide trail would give the opportunity for people to fly into St. Louis, ride to Kansas City, Mo., and fly home from there."