Major Rock Island Trail announcement 10am, Tues Dec 14, 2021, in Eldon - come if you can!

It's been exactly 2 years since MO State Parks & Ameren met in Eldon, Missouri, and signed an agreement to work towards donating the next 144 miles of the Rock Island corridor to Missouri State Parks - if certain conditions were met within 2 years.

The announcement Tuesday is about the 144-mile Windsor-Beaufort section of the Rock Island Trail - shown in red on the map above.

 

 

Now, with that deadline imminent, a major announcement about the Rock Island Trail has been scheduled for Tuesday in Eldon: 

• Rock Island Trail announcement with Missouri DNR
  10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14, at the Rock Island Park, East 8th Street, Eldon, MO 65026

At this event, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources/Missouri State Parks will make an announcement about the Rock Island Corridor - specifically, the 144 miles of the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad corridor which stretches from Windsor to Beaufort, Missouri.

Governor Parson is scheduled to be there - and we expect to see Ameren, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc, MoBikeFed, and other trail supporters as well.

Hope to see you there!

If you can't make it in person Tuesday, we'll post updates at http://MoBikeFed.org and http://facebook.com/mobikefed as soon as we know more.

Details and speculation about Tuesday's announcement

The Missouri DNR press release about Tuesday's announcement includes these additional details:

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will make a public announcement about the Rock Island Corridor, 144 miles of the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad corridor, which stretches from Windsor to Beaufort, Missouri. . . .

Representatives from Ameren Missouri, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the Missouri State Parks Foundation and elected officials will also participate in the announcement event.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch posted an article today with more information about Tuesday's announcement - and some speculation as to what the meeting will be about:

A plan to build a second cross-state pedestrian and bicycling trail in Missouri may be getting an injection of federal funds.

Gov. Mike Parson is scheduled to participate in an announcement in Eldon Tuesday about the Rock Island Corridor, a 144-mile rails-to-trails project stretching from Beaufort in Franklin County to Windsor in Henry County.

Details of the announcement were not immediately available, but Greg Harris, the executive director of the Missouri Rock Island Trail organization, said he expects a positive update on the future of the former railroad right-of-way.

“We do anticipate good news,” Harris said Monday.

 Read the full article for more details.

In 2014, representatives of MoBikeFed and MoRIT met with Ameren to deliver over 12,500 petition signatures - signed by people like you from all around Missouri, the U.S., and the world - in support of the Rock Island Trail. This was a key turning point in the history of the trail, as soon thereafter Ameren and Missouri State Parks began serious negotiations aimed at transfering the corridor to State Parks.

Thank you to trail supporters all across Missouri, the U.S., and the world

Like Greg, we can only speculate from the context of this announcement, but it appears to be a positive development for the future of Missouri's statewide Rock Island Trail.

Whatever the outcome tomorrow, we can only offer a huge and very sincere thank you to everyone who has helped this effort over the years by signing a petition, sending an email or letter, attending a meeting, or supporting the Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc., MoBikeFed, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy or any of the dozens more organizations, clubs, groups, and agencies across Missouri who have worked to make the cross-state Rock Island Trail a reality for Missouri!

That work has been ongoing not only for the past several years - but the past several decades! It has taken some real long-range vision, tenacity, and grit to bring this project to this day.

• Read about the early history of the Rock Island railroad - from its creation to the closure of the line in the early 1980s
• Read about the history and status of efforts to turn Missouri's Rock Island railroad corridor into a statewide rail-trail - from the 1980s to 2021 and beyond.

One of the top goals of MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri is building a world-class bicycle and pedestrian transportation system in Missouri.  The addition of the Rock Island Trail to Missouri's statewide trail system is the biggest single advance we have seen in Missouri in over 20 years.

Your membership and generous financial contributions help turn our Vision into reality--building the statewide public support for bicycling, walking, and trails that make major advances like the Rock Island Trail possible.