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Now in its 26th year, Missouri’s Katy Trail supports small businesses across
the state and serves as a model for other rail-trail projects nationwide.
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Miles: 237.7
Surfaces: Crushed stone, gravel
Endpoints: Machens > Clinton
Counties: Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Henry, Howard, Montgomery, Pettis,
St. Charles, Warren
BY DANIELLE TAYLOR
Missouri’s nickname—the “Show Me State”—reflects its residents’ prudent
tendency to question unsubstantiated claims, so when early proponents of
the Katy Trail began advocating for its creation in the mid-1980s, it was only
natural that their assertions of increased tourism and economic prosperity met
with a few skeptics. However, the trail has proved its worth several times over
in the quarter-century since it opened, and it now supports more than 400,000
recreational users each year as well as dozens of communities and hundreds
of small businesses statewide.
FALL 2016 RAILS TO TRAILS
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PAT H WA Y T O P R O S P E R I T Y