Opposition from nearby residents stops St. Louis area trail

Opposition from landowners has stopped about 1/3 of a planned 36-mile trail in the St. Louis metro area, according to an STLToday article:

Dardenne Greenway, initially proposed as a recreational trail across most of the county, is shrinking by more than a third.

When proposing the route in 2005, planners said they hoped to develop a 36-mile trail along the Dardenne Creek's entire length in St. Charles County, from Warren County to where the stream joins the Mississippi River.

But indifference or even hostility from some creekside landowners led the Great Rivers Greenway District to abandon its plan for the project's eastern and western ends. As a result, the trail will probably run from just west of the Busch wildlife area to just east of St. Peters' Lakeside 370 Park.

Owners of land on the eastern and western portions of the trail, which run through low-density agricultural areas, were not willing to grant trail easements.

What often happens in similar situations, however, is that as areas on the fringe of a metro area make the transition from agricultural to urban, there is an opportunity to build connecting trails at that time. So there is the possibility of adding some sections to the trail in future decades.