Piggyback the Razorback: Is Joplin a natural next step for popular greenway? | joplinglobe.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:

Northwest Arkansas’ Razorback Regional Greenway is an amazing accomplishment, and that’s both bad news and good news for Southwest Missouri.

The bad news is this: The trail — because it has been done so well — lures a sizable crowd out of Southwest Missouri on most weekends, and with them goes money spent at Arkansas hotels, coffee shops and restaurants, bike shops, and more.

The good news is this: The trail — again, because it has been done so well — offers a template for Southwest Missouri. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And not only can we learn from its success; we can tie right into it — piggyback off the Razorback, if you will.

I attended a meeting a few weeks ago in Pineville, sponsored by the Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council and the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, to hear from McDonald County residents about the possibility of extending the popular greenway through Jane to Pineville. The parking lot for the community center was overflowing when I arrived, and the building was packed — evidence residents are eager for a connection.

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Piggyback the Razorback: Is Joplin a natural next step for popular greenway? | joplinglobe.com

MoBikeFed comment: The idea of connecting SW Missouri to the Razorback trail is an exciting one--an idea that has the potential to connect several counties together via a unified trail system.

And that could be just the first step--how about connecting far SW Missouri and the Razorback trail to the Springfield Trail system. And how about connecting all of those trails to the Rock Island/Katy Trail system?

It is all possible, given citizen support and the political will.

MoBikeFed has already been working with numerous local and nationa. partners on the first steps towards those connections.