Missouri Bicycle News Article

A 15-mile stretch of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway near Joplin will soon become a railtrail if the railroad's proposed abandonment deal goes through. According to a Jefferson City News-Tribune article:

"We are excited about the project moving forward," said Paul Teverow, president of the coalition that developed the Joplin-Webb City Frisco Greenway Trail.

The proposed trail would run west from Carthage to the Missouri-Kansas line.

Supporters originally hoped for a 28-mile trail from Carthage to Columbus, Kan. Opposition and a fee imposed by the Cherokee County Commission caused the trail group to drop the Kansas portion.

The Joplin Globe has an article about botanist Stephen Timme's reaction to the proposed trail:

To Timme, who has surveyed plants from Prairie State Park to the Amazon, rails-to-trails serve humans on multiple layers: yes, they're good for economic and community development, and yes, they're a great place for an increasingly obese America to walk, run and bike off a few pounds.

But these kinds of things are needed and desired at an even more basic level. Just as plants have adapted to specific conditions along the trail, for example, humans have evolved with a deep desire, bordering on a craving, to be among nature. Trails like this serve that need, Timme said.

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