Conservative Utah announces 3100 mile paved Trail Network Master Plan connecting all Utah cities - so when will Missouri follow? | Sun

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:

On October 28, Governor Spencer Cox announced to the Utah Transportation Conference the finalization of the Utah Trail Network Master Plan, the blueprint for a series of over 3,000 miles connecting major locations throughout the state.

The trails are in­tended to be paved, inter­connecting towns and cities down to the level of making navigation to local stores, schools and parks more accessible by foot, bike or scooter.

Said Governor Cox at the conference, “We need to spend more time outside, more time outside, more time connecting with people and more time exer­cising, and the way we do that is through our trail system.” UDOT compared the establishment of the trail system to the advent of the interstate, calling it “generational.”

The Trails Division for the Utah Department of Trans­portation has been plan­ning a series of intercon­nected trails for years, with Cox envisioning the idea of a Utah-wide trail since his campaigns in 2022. Accord­ing to the master plan, upon completion, 95 percent of all Utahns will live within one mile of one of the network’s trails and 96 percent of all Utah’s jobs will be within one mile of a trail network facility - facilities enabling active transportation such as electric bikes or scooters. . . .

The trail network will be incor­porating 500 miles of already established trails, over 2,000 miles are projected to be completed in 2026 and 2027, with over $100 million approved for the trails.

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Conservative Utah announces 3100 mile paved Trail Network Master Plan connecting all Utah cities - so when will Missouri follow? | Sun

We are proud when we complete a mile or two of trail, or finally - 20 years behind the national trend - start to contemplate a statewide bike/ped plan.

And our statewide visionary leader whine and moan and kick up a fuss about completing a 200-mile cross-state trail that was literally handed to them on a silver platter.

Meanwhile in Utah - a FAR more conservative state than Missouri - the governor is literally campaigning on a 3000+ mile visionary trails plan *that will be built out in the next TWO years*, reaching within one mile of 95% of citizens and job sites.

At the same time MoDOT is moaning about the high cost of creating a long-overdue statewide bike/ped plan - at a cost of maybe $100K - UDOT is raving about the "generational" impact of its statewide trails plan and planning to invest literally $100 **MILLION** towards completing it.

At the same time MoDOT has spent literally *two decades* foot-dragging and doing the absolute bare minimum or below in regards to hiring its federally required and 100% federally funded Statewide Bike/Ped Coordinator, UDOT has literally an ENTIRE DIVISION working just on this statewide trails initiative.

Folks, this is our competition. This is the standard other, deeply conservative, states are setting. And we are falling behind - badly.

Would you rather live in a state where billionaires are allowed to deep-six a simple, inexpensive statewide trail because it happens to pass alongside their property - or a state where the same level of statewide industry and political leaders have come down *strongly* in favor of a much more comprehensive and expensive and extensive statewide trail