Katy Trail State Park
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Katy Trail State Park is a state park in Missouri. It consists of the former rail right-of-way of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, also known as the MKT or Katy Line, converted into a recreation rail trail. It runs 225 miles (362 km) from Saint Charles, Missouri, to Clinton. The eastern two-thirds follows the northern bank of the Missouri River.
The trail is open for use by hikers, joggers, and cyclists year-round, from sunrise to sunset. The trail is made up of "pug", a crushed limestone surface. In general this surface is hard and flat, but there may be washouts after a heavy rain.
The state operates the trail as a day-use facility and maintains no camping facilities along the route. Private vendors near some of the trailheads do maintain campgrounds for trail users.
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[edit] Route
The Katy Trail is anchored on the east by St. Charles, where it runs alongside scenic parks commemorating the city's role in the United States's westward expansion. From there one can take a side trip across the Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River to the Creve Coeur Memorial Park in St. Louis County. The trail uses the historic MKT miles; as of 2004, the trail begins at mile 39.
Going west, the first trailhead is Greens Bottom Road at marker 46. There are parking and restrooms. The trail here follows the two-lane Greens Bottom Road, which borders open farmland until the woods around mile 50. Here the train line was carved out of natural rock to the south.
The next trailhead is Weldon Springs at 56. There are parking and restrooms here. The next major stop is the city of Defiance at mile 59. At this trailhead, there is a bike rental shop and a bar.
[edit] Camping
Private vendors offer places for camping near the trailheads in the following towns:
- St. Charles
- Augusta
- Dutzow
- Marthasville
- Bluffton
- Portland
- Steedman
- Hartsburg
- Wilton
- Easley
- Huntsdale
- Rocheport
- New Franklin
- Boonville
- Pilot Grove
- Sedalia
- Windsor
- Clinton
[edit] Issues facing the trail
[edit] The MKT bridge at Boonville
Due to the Katy Trail's railbank status, it must always remain connected to the national railway network so that it could potentially be called back into active railway use. The segment of the trail between St. Charles and Sedalia was connected in two locations. One of these connections is in St. Charles and the other was provided by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Bridge at Boonville.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources was granted the right to keep the bridge in place and to use it at the MDNR's discretion as part of the trail per the following language of the Interim Trail Agreement signed 25 June 1987:
Excepting and excluding from the said conveyance all of MKT's interest in the following described parcels of land and/or structures: . . .
MKT's Boonville lift bridge, being MKT's Bridge No. 191.1 across the Missouri River at Boonville, Missouri. MKT agrees that said bridge shall be kept available for transportation purposes in accordance with ICC decision ex parte No. 274 (Sub.-No. 13) and that MDNR upon execution of waivers of liability acceptable to MKT may utilize the bridge for trail purposes; provided, however, that MKT reserves the right to modify the bridge structure as may be required to improve rail transportation, so long as MDNR's right to utilize the premises for interim trail use is not adversely affected thereby.
However, on 28 April 2005, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources signed an amendment to the agreement abandoning its rights to the bridge and allowing Union Pacific to remove the bridge and thus creating two independent segments in the trail, east and west of Booneville respectively. The consequence of this is that if the connection in St. Charles is destroyed or otherwise rendered unusable by rail (such as by natural disaster), the segment of the trail between St. Charles and Booneville would lose its railbanked status and ownership of the land would probably revert back to its original owners from before the Union Pacific Line was built. The same could happen to the segment east of Booneville if its connection is lost.
Riders did not ride over the MKT bridge but instead over a bike trail along a stretch of road between these two segments. This stretch of trail could not be used for railway use and thus divides the two into independent segments without the MKT bridge.
[edit] Completing the trail
Advocates in Missouri have expressed wishes that the Katy Trail to be "completed". These advocates desire that the trail be connected to the Kansas City metro area. A 2002 study by the Mid-America Regional Council gives a number of options for achieving this. One option, that AmerenUE allow the use of its unused Rock Island Corridor rail line, has received particular attention. Missouri Governor, Matt Blunt, has asked Ameren to allow the use of the Rock Island Corridor for this purpose as compensation for a flood which devastated Johnson's Shut-ins State Park after the failure of a dam owned by Ameren.
[edit] Paving the MKT
In 2006, Ted Curtis, the senior planner for Columbia’s Non-Motorized Grant Program, proposed to pave the MKT Spur of the Trail. While Curtis's proposal allows for the Trail to resist weather damage better and provides more recreational initiative for the Trail's use, many have protested the paving plan, claiming the it will interfere with the enjoyment of nature and remove a major soft-surface path for runners. Curtis's response was to build spur trails that lead to creeks and other aspects of nature, and to leave a shoulder in the Trail for runners. [1]
