Katy Trail’s KC extension very much in doubt
By KEN MIDKIFF
Published Friday, February 1, 2008
(http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/feb/20080201comm001.asp)

Ever since the Katy Trail has been in place from Clinton to St. Charles, Kansas Citians have been longing for the trail to be extended to their town so they could hop on their bikes. The deal recently reached between Missouri and AmerenUE - having mostly to do with the catastrophic failure of the Taum Sauk reservoir in Reynolds County - seems to make that dream a reality.

Maybe not. As usual, the devil is in the details, and the details in the proposed settlement agreement bode ill for any extension of the Katy Trail to the Kansas City area.

Consider:

1.The Rock Island Line - that AmerenUE does not own - was never "abandoned" and is therefore ineligible for the Rails to Trails designation.

2. AmerenUE ceded only the rights that it has to the state - with an exception, below. Those rights pertain to running a railroad, not a trail.

3. AmerenUE could not cede the right to the railbed because Qwest has an easement for a fiber-optic cable under the railbed but not under the current tracks.

4. Because of No. 3, the state is limited to constructing a trail parallel to the railbed. AmerenUE could grant an easement to lands adjacent to the railbed. But this means an all-new trail, including a foundation and bridges.

5. The trail that the state constructs must be 25 feet from the center of the railbed. This is not a problem for most of the route. However, where there are rock cuts only wide enough to accommodate the railbed, the trail must go over the top of the cliffs. Not very bicycle- or pedestrian-friendly.

6. Because the Rails to Trails Act does not apply, the state must get the permission of hundreds of landowners to construct the trail. The landowners granted easements for a railroad, not a trail. Although the Department of Natural Resources/state parks is granted the statutory authority to exercise eminent domain, it is unwilling - rightly so - to use this legal option. If even one of the landowners refuses to grant an easement, the matter would end up in court for perhaps years.

7. The $18 million that AmerenUE would give to the state to develop the trail is not nearly enough. The Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimate $1 million per mile, and the extension is about 45 miles long.

As an avid bicyclist, I, too, would like to see the Katy Trail extended to KC, but this is not the way to accomplish it. There are so many obstacles that it won’t or can’t happen.

Prediction: The state parks folks will make much of constructing the Katy Trail on the small sections in current public ownership - rail crossings, for example. There will be photos in newspapers and videos on TV showing workers with shovels and picks, with backhoes poised in the background.

Unfortunately, it won’t mean much. To paraphrase Shakespeare, sound and fury, ultimately signifying nothing.