MO DNR now starting to move ahead with Katy Trail Connection to Kansas City

Kansas City Star Columnist Mike Hendricks has been a big supporter of the idea of connecting Kansas City to the Katy Trail. His column on the subject this week brings good news:

Finally the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is getting serious about extending the Katy Trail to Kansas City.

It’s about time. . . .

“We are actively working to see what the options are,” [Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources] spokeswoman Connie Patterson told me when I checked in with her on Friday. “There’s a lot of public support for this, and we would like to see this dream become a reality.”

You will note that is not exactly a commitment attached to a strict timetable.

But considering the history, it is a huge step forward.

“We have not been actively pursuing it at this time.”

That’s what Patterson’s predecessor in the Bob Holden administration told me last September. . . .

I’d seen where DNR Director Doyle Childers had opined that “bringing the trail into Kansas City” was “a much wiser use of tax dollars” than hanging on to an old railroad bridge that may never become part of the trail system.

So I seized on that only to learn that Childers first wanted a show of support before making good on his observation.

And boy did he get what he asked for after I put his e-mail address and phone number in the newspaper.

More than 1,000 of you have since lent your names to the cause since July. It wasn’t just my column that did that. Many others signed petitions circulated by area bike clubs.

The important thing is, it got Childers’ attention.

“We’re working with the different parties and looking into some of the legal questions,” Patterson said.

MoBikeFed's Advocacy Alert on this issue is here--more supporting email, calls, and letters will still help move this issue forward.