Katy Trail Extension Agreement Approved. The Missouri Attorney General has entered into an agreement with Ameren Corp. to allow a trail to be built along a little-used 46-mile Rock Island line between Windsor and Pleasant Hill, Missouri to extend the KATY Trail into the Kansas City area. The agreement calls for Amergen to give the State of Missouri $18 million to undertake this rails-with-trails project but that won't be sufficient as culverts will have to be installed and bridges constructed. A judge has to give final approval of the settlement. Once the extension is completed, the KATY Trail will be 282 miles long and almost link Saint Louis and Kansas City. The next step is for the Union Pacific to allow a trail to be built within a little-used UP corridor from Pleasant Hill to Leeds District in Kansas City. Once the KATY Trail is extended into Kansas City, it can link up with the MetroGreen trail network. The agreement was made possible by sustained and effective lobbying by members and leaders of the Missouri Bicycle Federation.
Prairie Spirit Trail Extension Opening Delayed. According to Trent McCown, manager of the Prairie Spirit Trail (The Prairie Spirit Express, Dec. 2007), it now looks like it will be well into spring before the Welda-Iola section of the Prairie Spirit Trail will be open to the public. Soil abnormalities were not identified during the engineering process and this allowed cracks to develop in the asphalt surface within the city of Iola. The trail surface will be inspected in early March and repairs made as soon as the weather allows. Then the trail will be opened to the public.