Announcements on Katy Trail connection to KC will make trail network "an international destination" - Joplin Globe

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

What if the longest rails-to-trails project in the nation — already drawing 400,000 visitors per year and generating tens of millions of dollars for the state — is only in its infancy?

Currently, Missouri’s Katy Trail, built along the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad, is 240 miles long, from Machens, near St. Louis, to Clinton.

Just a few weeks ago, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon committed to finishing in 2016 a 47.5-mile trail extension from Windsor, a community on the Katy trail, to Pleasant Hill, on the south side of the Kansas City area. It will follow an old Rock Island line.

When complete, Missouri will have a true cross-state trail. . . .

That was followed by an announcement by Jackson County officials and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority that they have formed a partnership to acquire the final piece — 17.7 miles — needed to run a bicycle/running/walking trail from Kansas City’s Truman Sports Complex south toward the south end of Lee’s Summit, according to Mark Siettmann, director of communications for Jackson County.

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Announcements on Katy Trail connection to KC will make trail network "an international destination" - Joplin Globe

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MoBikeFed comment: This article by Joplin Globe reporter Andy Ostmeyer, is one of the best of the recent articles about the Katy/Rock Island Trail expansion to give a sense of the big picture--what this means for Missouri and where it is all headed.

As the article says, the 450+ mile trail network has serious potential to be an international destination.

Whether the trail system reaches that potential depends, to a great extent, on whether Missouri as a state and the communities along the trail are willing to invest in creating truly excellent trail towns and then marketing the trail extensively nationally and internationally.

Missouri's work to market and promote the Katy Trail has been tepid, to say the least. We're going to need to do a lot better in the future.