Katy Trail users appeal Boonvile bridge case

According to today's Columbia Tribune:

Appellate court judges are scheduled to hear arguments in Columbia this week in the latest chapter of the fight over Boonville’s old railroad bridge.

Boonville Bridge, by raycadaster, http://flickr.com/photos/raycadaster/398648560/

Ken Midkiff of Columbia, conservation chairman of the Ozark Chapter Sierra Club, joined two St. Louis men and sued in November 2005 as MKT Trail users, claiming removal of the bridge would jeopardize the trail.

The lawsuit sought to block Union Pacific Railroad from dismantling the bridge and prevent the state from relinquishing the state’s interest in the bridge. It mirrors concerns raised in a separate lawsuit filed by Attorney General Jay Nixon. . . .

Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder dismissed the lawsuit in July, ruling the group had no legal right to sue and did not raise any different legal questions than Nixon’s suit, which had already been ruled in DNR’s favor. . . .

Kurt Schaefer, DNR deputy director and general counsel, said Kinder’s decision was correct and should be upheld.

"Just because you’re a trail user, you can’t just file a lawsuit over the Boonville bridge," Schaefer said. "The trail has never, ever gone over the bridge."

As we have explained before, this position is not accurate and is not the issue at hand.

Although the trail has never gone over the railroad bridge, and may never go over the bridge, for complex legal reasons the original trail agreement specified that the bridge was to remain in place and available for transportation purposes. This agreement was necessary to protect and preserve the railbanked status of the entire Katy railroad corridor, including hundreds of miles of corridor that does include trail.

As we have explained before, removing the bridge may not lead to immediate dissolution of the trail. But clearly it removes a margin of safety in the legal status of a section of the Katy Trail approximately 160 miles in length. Removing the bridge will open up the possibility of legal attacks on this section of the trail that have a reasonable possibility of success.