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Danielle Taylor,
a freelance
journalist who
covers outdoor
recreation,
conservation,
public lands and
travel, spent
a week on the
Katy Trail in
June to research
this story.
To learn about
her work and
travels, visit
.
but those same people see the economic and recreation
and lifestyle benefits now. One of the most ardent [for-
mer] opponents of the Katy Trail stood up in a meeting
about the Rock Island proposals and told folks who live
along that line that 99 percent of people on the Katy Trail
are good people. No one’s stealing watermelons or leav-
ing litter like they feared.”
Still, challenges come up from time to time that
threaten the Katy’s future. One state legislator recently
proposed a bill to allow all-terrain vehicles and golf carts
on the Katy Trail. The same legislator proposed another
bill that would require cyclists to attach a 15-foot-tall
pole with an orange flag to their bikes before operating
on county roads, many of which feed into the trail. Jodi
Devonshire, co-owner of the Bike Stop Café & Outpost
in St. Charles, wrote in an April post on the Missouri Bi-
cycle and Pedestrian website, “We’ve had … folks telling
us they will not make a vacation trip for fear of running
into ATVs or the unfavorable trail conditions they will
likely cause.” Both bills failed to make it out of the House,
but challenges continue to surface.
Model for Others
As one of the nation’s earliest railbanking projects,
the Katy Trail has been studied extensively by rail-trail
proponents around the country who wish to repeat its
success. Recently, a group from the Arkansas Parks
and Tourism Department came to visit the Katy Trail
as they consider an 87-mile rail-trail project of their
own along the Mississippi River. Kansas sent a delega-
tion last year to take notes for a rail-trail conversion
that may one day connect with Missouri’s system in
Kansas City.
“They came because the Katy Trail is in the RTC Hall
of Fame, and there’s a great opportunity here to under-
stand what it takes,” Bryan says of the Arkansas visitors.
“When they left, we asked if they had any feedback for
us, and they said this is exactly what they want to do.”
Former Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman says, “The
Katy Trail should be seen as a teacher, and as an ex-
ample of serendipity.” Hindman, whose 20-plus years
of advocacy for the trail earned him a Doppelt Family
Rail-Trail Champion Award
pions ) from RTC, explains, “If you do something that
reaches as many people in a positive way as the Katy
Trail does, good things are going to follow. You may
not know what they will be, but good things are going
to follow.”•
FALL 2016 RAILS TO TRAILS 13