City of Washington - Katy Trail connection becoming a reality

Washington has already pledged right of way of land it owns along Highway 47 toward getting the grant. We hope Warren County demonstrates the same leadership and gets behind this project.

Why? The answer is simple. Economic development.

Studies and surveys across the country have shown that bicycle paths/trails contribute to economic development. They provide recreation, transportation and a sense of community. They also can increase property values.

People want to live in an area that has abundant biking/hiking trails. That’s why the city of Washington has focussed on creating biking/hiking pathways.

The Katy Trail is considered one of the country’s trail gems. It traverses some of the most scenic areas of the state which is why people from all over the country come here to ride it. It is in our backyard but we don’t have a safe way to access it.

We have no doubt there would be a return on the investment in building this connection.

Missouri is a nexus of the nationwide bicycle route network

A national connection

The bridge is important locally and because it connects the Katy Trail to Washington.  But it also a key national bike/ped connection, touching several of Missouri's national bicycle routes.

Adventure Cycling's Lewis and Clark Bicycle Route and the coast-to-coast American Discovery Trail both use the Katy Trail as their route.

But even more important, Adventure Cycling's Great Rivers Bicycle Route crosses the Missouri River on the Hwy 47 Bridge.  The improvements to the HIghway 47 Bridge and the connection between the bridge and the Katy Trail will improve one of the most difficult and dangerous river crossings on the Great Rivers Route, which stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.

A Top 100 Missouri High Priority Bike/Ped Project

The national route connections the new bridge will make is one reason the Washington-Katy Trail bridge connection was rated as one of the Top 100 Missouri High Priority Bike/Ped/ADA Projects.  The selection and prioritization of those projects was coordinated and led by the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation, with the cooperation of bike/ped supporters and groups from all around the state.

MoDOT Director Kevin Keith spoke specifically about the Hwy 47 bridge at Bike/Ped Capitol Day 2012--emphasizing the MoDOT wants to avoid making mistakes this time around that it has made in the past.  The top mistake Keith mentioned, was building the bridge itself but not designing or buildling the connection from the bridge to the adjoining community and high-priority traffic generators like the Katy Trail.

It is great to see MoDOT improving their processes and learning from past mistakes--and building the trail connecting the new bridge to the Katy is one result of MoDOT's new and improved approach to supporting bike/ped accommodations.

Missouri 1993-2012: From no bike/ped friendly MO River Bridges to MANY!

The Katy-Washington connection adds one more important bike/ped accessible bridge along the Katy Trail--and one more across the Missouri River.

Encouraging the creation of these important connections across key national barriers has been one of MoBikeFed's top priorities since it was formed in 1993.  At that time, none of the Missouri River bridges in Missouri were bike/ped accessible.

Since then, we have seen these bridges built or retrofitted with bike/ped accommodations:  The Boonville Bridge, the Page Ave Extension (St Charles County-St. Louis County), the Hermann Bridge, Heart of America Bridge (Kansas City), Chouteau Bridge (Kansas City).

In addition, we have seen shoulders or other improvements to make bridges minimally bike/ped accessible on the Lexington Bridge, the Amelia Earhardt Bridge at Leavenworth, the Hwy 370 Bridge near St. Charles, and the Hwy 67 Bridge north of St. Louis.

Right now, bike/ped accommodations are planned for the Washington, MO, Bridge and the Daniel Boone Bridge (I-64 in St. Louis County), both of which will be completed in the new few years.

And . . . addition of a bike/ped path to the existing I-70 bridge at St. Charles is under intense discussion by communities in the area.

Altogether, the turnaround since 1993 could not be more complete.  Making the Washington Hwy 47 Bridge bike/ped accessible will be a major step towards our goal of bridge major barriers for Missouri bicyclists and pedestrians.

Your support over the past 19 years has been the key to making that progress from dream to reality!

Photo credits: Washington Bridge photo (upper), courtesy MoDOT FlickR collection - license CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Washington Bridge photo (lower) courtesy Wikipedia; photo by Wikipedia users Americasroof. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.