Missouri Trail Supporters! Contact your own Missouri Senator & Representative to ask for support for Rock Island Trail Funding

Governor Parson requested $69 million of federal ARPA funding to build the vast majority of the new Rock Island Trail State Park - all of the "hard parts" of the route from Beaufort to Eldon, including the major bridges and tunnels.

The Rock Island Trail will combine with the Katy Trail and other interconnected trails to create a 500+ mile cross-state trail system across Missouri

There is a lot of support for full funding in Missouri Legislature.  But there are also many competing priorities - and some Senators have indicated that they oppose or have many questions about the funding. 

The Missouri Senate has only 34 members and the House 163 members - and each is important in making funding decisions.  Can you take 5 minutes to contact YOUR OWN Missouri Senator & Representative to ask for support of the proposed Rock Island Trail funding?

How you can help - Write YOUR OWN Missouri Senator & Representative

• Look up your own Missouri Senator & Representative here.

• Send each of them a brief message requesting support for the Rock Island Trail funding.

• Please also send director@mobikefed.org a copy of your message if possible (it helps us have an idea of the response). 

• Let your Senator & Rep know that you live in his/her district and are a constituent.

• A brief message is fine. Short is best!  Just 2-3-4 sentences is enough.

Write a message or letter, in your own words, making some of these points: 

When you search using *Legislator Lookup* you will see your Missouri State Senator & Representative listed near the top of the results.

 

• Please fully fund the Rock Island Trail at the $69 million recommended by Gov. Parson.
   
• This is a statewide project that will benefit communities all across the state from the largest to the smallest.
   
• Full funding will allow the full trail and connections to the statewide trail system to be completed rapidly. Until we have a full trail fully connected we won't see the local and statewide economic benefits - so we would like to see the full requested amount funded.
   
• If you represent an agency, city, county, business, or organization, explain why the Rock Island Trail is important to your organization and the economic impact you expect from the project.
   
• If you are writing as an individual, you can include a few sentences or a short story explaining why the trail is important to you.
   
• You can send the same basic message to your Senator and Representative - just change the Dear X part.

 Helpful info for your message

• Below is a sample letter format and more ideas you can include.
   
• If you call, you'll most likely talk to the Senator's or Representative's legislative staff. "I'm XXX from YYY. I'm calling to ask Sen. ZZZ to support full funding for the Rock Island Trail.  I support it because XXX. Thank you!"  Calls are very, very effective! 
  

  When you click the search results to see your Senator's home page, you will find the office phone number and an *Email the Senator* link in the upper right
   
   
• Note: We are not providing a sample message because it is so much more effective when each agency/organization/person writes an individualized message. Legislators just ignore cookie cutter form messages. Your message doesn't need to be long - 2-4 sentences is plenty. The main idea to communicate is: I am your constituent and I support full funding for the Rock Island Trail.

Thank you! When Missouri agencies, organizations, businesses, cities, counties, and citizens work together to speak up about their priorities, it really makes a difference! 

Background

The $69 million appropriation for the Rock Island Trail proposed by Governor Parson is enough to build the major part - and the most difficult and costly sections - of the 144-mile Rock Island Trail section between Windsor and Washington, MO.  This is the Rock Island Trail section that Missouri State Parks finally accepted into the Missouri State Parks system last December.

The $69 million is federal funding that the state has received as part of the federal stimulus funding package - federal ARPA funding.  So it is money the state must spend within the next few years or it will be lost. 

This is the opportunity of a lifetime to get the Rock Island Trail/Katy Trail loop system - over 500 miles of interconnected trail all across Missouri - actually built and open. 

Your State Representative will have an email address.

The $69 million is not enough to build the entire 144-mile rail trail.  But it is enough to do the hardest and most expensive portions - including the three major tunnels and two major bridges.  Missouri State Parks believes that the $69 million is enough to complete the easternmost portion of the trail, from Eldon to Beaufort. 

With that most difficult portion complete, the remainder can be completed over time using regular funding sources.

Sample Legislator Letter Format

Date

The Honorable (full name)
Missouri Senate [or House of Representatives]
201 W Capitol Ave
Jefferson City, Missouri 65101

Subject: Please support full funding for the Rock Island Trail in HB 3020

Dear Senator (last name),  OR   Dear Representative (last name),

Trash to treasure - the Rock Island Corridor goes through more than 20 Missouri communities, and hasn't been maintained in decades. The corridor will go from a liability for Rock Island communities to a statewide asset.

 

I live in your district in XXXXX.  I am writing today to ask you to support the full $69 million in ARPA funding requested by Governor Parson for the Rock Island Trail in HB 3020.  I hope you will support this funding because YYYYYY.

Sincerely,

ZZZZZZZ

Ideas for your message

Again PLEASE do not include all of these messages - shorter is better!  But you could choose one or two of these points to make in your own words.

• The trail is an outstanding opportunity for the state to provide a cross-state trail experience through the rugged, scenic, and remote northern Ozarks.
   
• The requested funding  will complete the most remote and difficult sections of the trail.  Completing the rest will be a partnership with the many small towns and numerous civic organizations along the route.
   
• The Rock Island and Katy Trail system will be a 500-mile seamlessly connected cross-state trail loop when complete.  This will be one of the longest contiguous trail projects in the world.
   
• The longer the trail, the further people will travel to visit, the longer they stay, and the more they spend on their visit.
   
• Because of that, completion of the Rock Island Trail and the cross-state trail loop will have statewide economic benefits.
   
• Communities all along the existing Rock Island and Katy Trails (300 miles now, and dozens of communities) will benefit. 
   
• The Rock Island/Katy Trail Corridor connects some of our smallest rural communities and largest metro areas - including Kansas City, St Louis, Columbia, and Jefferson City. 
  
  

  The portion of the trail requested for ARPA funding is the most difficult but also the most scenic section of the Rock Island, with two major bridges and three major tunnels. With this most difficult piece of the trail done, the complete connection to the Katy will be rapidly complete. Further regional, statewide, and national trail connections are in the works as well.
• Communities across the state - east to west and north to south - have been working to develop trails and bicycle touring routes to connect their communities with the Rock Island Trail.  
   
• Because of those connections, completing the trail loop system through the heart of Missouri will have economic and quality of life impacts on the entire state.
   
• The project is a major rural economic development initiative for the 19 communities along the 144 miles of new Rock Island Trail.
   
• 40 percent of Missourians live within 50 miles of the combined Rock Island & Katy Trail corridors.
   
• In 2020, the Katy Trail recorded more than 500,000 visitors.  A study 10 years ago when visitation was much lower, showed that the Katy generated nearly $18.5 million a year in economic impact for the state.
   
• Unlike the Katy Trail, the Rock Island Trail will go directly through 19 communities - through or near downtown in all of them. That means a bigger impact on local economies and more opportunity for local residents to use the trail, children to walk to school on the trail, and so on.
   
• Partnerships are already being forged and grants applied for by local communities in order to supplement ARPA funds and the continued fundraising for the Endowment Fund.
   
• The ARPA funding will be seed funding that will bring significantly more funding along with it - private, local, and federal funding.
   
• Development of the Rock Island Trail is a significant infrastructure investment for Missouri that will have far-reaching benefits for generations.
   
• This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impact such a large part of our great state and my local community.     

Look up your own Missouri State Senator & Representative here.

Thank you!

Thank you!  The work to support the acceptance of the Rock Island Trail byu Missouri State Parks and now funding to complete much of the trail has been and amazing cooperative effort among dozens of allied organizations across Missouri and many thousands of individual Missourians. Please support all of these groups - but above all, do not forget Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc, the alliance of local supporters and communities along the trail that is dedicated solely to the development and completion of the trail.

When people and organizations from all across Missouri work together to support the projects we all benefit from and enjoy, and to contact our elected officials and state leaders, it really makes a difference!

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.