Magi Foundation Buys Pacific MO Riverfront Park- connection to 500-mile Katy/Rock Island Trail system ultimate goal | emissourian.com

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:

The Magi Foundation has taken its first step in developing a trailhead at Pacific that would connect a two-state trail system.

Using funds from the 2015 Bluegrass Bash, the foundation purchased a 2.5-acre parcel of Meramec riverfront property, beneath the Highway O bridge.

Once fully developed, this will be the first public park to be designed as a Pacific meeting point of a two-state trail system, according to Steve Myers, vice president of the Magi Foundation, the trail planner.

Trails are presently being constructed by the Great Rivers Greenway in St. Louis County and the Ozark Trail Association in south central Missouri will someday merge at the Franklin/St. Louis County line at Pacific.

Myers formed the Pacific Riverwalk Trail Project more than five years ago to provide access to the Meramec River.

Link: 

Magi Foundation Buys Pacific MO Riverfront Park- connection to 500-mile Katy/Rock Island Trail system ultimate goal | emissourian.com

MoBikeFed comment: Communities across Missouri are excited to become part of the Katy Trail - Rock Island Trail system, which will total over 500 miles when complete. Pacific is within a few miles of the Rock Island Trail that is currently planned to connect with Washington, MO. And the connection along the Meramec River and then north to the Missouri River near Chesterfield is shown on this Great Rivers Greenway District planning map:

http://greatriversgreenway.org/projects/

What isn't shown there is the potential future connection along the south bank of the Missouri River, to connect with the Rock Island Trail system at Washington, as shown on our Multi-State Trails System update for 2016:

http://mobikefed.org/2016/06/quad-state-trail-and-missouri-statewide-tra...

In addition to this, there is the possibility of connecting a trail west from Pacific to connect with the Rock Island Trail system somewhere near Gray Summit, Labadie, or Washington. Because this potential connection is so new, no one has thoroughly explored the options for making the connection yet.

As the article points out, a connection with the Ozark Trail is part of the long-term plans of about the Ozark Trail Association and Great Rivers Greenway District. However, the nearest completed section of the Ozark Trail is the Courtois Section, which ends near Cuba--still a good distance from Pacific:

http://www.ozarktrail.com/courtois.php

Like many of our Missouri trails plans, this is a very forward-thinking vision of future trail connections.

We laud and support communities like Pacific that are working hard to envision these future trail connections and working hard to make the connections to them. It is this kind of future thinking that makes major regional trail systems possible.