Cities work for further Katy Trail extension towards Kansas City

Several cities have been working together for several years to use a long-abandoned railroad corridor to complete the Katy Trail connection to Kansas City.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is currently working to build an extension of the Katy Trail from Windsor to Pleasant Hill.

This extension, about 46 miles in length, is in the Rock Island Railroad corridor.

The final miles of the Rock Island Corridor leading into Kansas City are owned by Union Pacific Railroad. Several cities have been working together for some years on a deal to use this corridor to create a commuter rail connection from the KC suburbs to downtown Kansas City and, simultaneously, create a trail connection from Pleasant Hill through Greenwood, Lee's Summit, Raytown, and Kansas City, ending near the Stadium Complex in KCMO.

This week, Lee's Summit officials included this issue in their legislative agenda, according to the Lee's Summit Journal:

Local officials from Lee’s Summit, Pleasant Hill, Greenwood, Raytown, Kansas City and Jackson and Cass counties have been working together for more than a decade to develop a plan for the future of the corridor, Messerli said.

She said the communities hope the area can be secured for re-use in conjunction with the extension of the Katy Trail and as a possible corridor for future mass transit.

“On behalf of all of those communities, we ask for assistance in securing the needed funding to purchase the Rock Island Railroad corridor and securing forever all our futures,” Messerli said.

Kansas City, Missouri, has also included the Katy Trail connection as part of its legislative priorities.