Boonville Bridge lawsuit moves forward

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources wants to give away the old Boonville Railroad bridge, part of the Katy rail corridor. The Attorney General sued the state of Missouri to prevent the giveaway.

The case was heard Monday. According to a Boonville Daily News report:

Kinder told the parties he was leaning toward ruling against the Attorney General's office, but he would look over the evidence and make a ruling on April 24.

The parties argued over whether the state has adequate property rights to prevent demolition of the bridge. Union Pacific Railroad, the owner of the 73-year old structure, wants to dismantle it and reuse parts of the steel in a new bridge at Osage City. Boonville hopes to keep the bridge in place, incorporating it into the MKT trail and capitalizing on the historic significance of the liftspan bridge.

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The MKT trail doesn't currently run over the Boonville Lift Bridge, but lawyers for Nixon and the city of Boonville believe that according to the rails-to-trails agreement, Union Pacific has an obligation to keep the bridge for “future trail use.”

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The judge did throw out the motion by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to disqualify the Attorney General's office from bringing the case.

Recent developments and summary of the situation is here.