To the Editor:
After reading Ms. Murphy’s May 11, article on the Rock Island Trail, I feel there is a need to add some perspective to the reporting.
The Rock Island has a long history in Owensville, Gasconade County, and the state as a major system of transport for goods and people. Since the early 1980s, however, the railbed has lay dormant, neglected and unused, a non-productive asset.
Missouri had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create one of the longest rail-trail loops in the world with the Rock Island linked to the Katy. Towns and cities developed their own plans for spurs and safe pedestrian links. Multiple public comment periods (over several years) indicated strong state-wide support for the trail and its economic growth.
It is known, from numerous rail-trail development projects, that the economic impact is many times the initial investment. The Rock Island Trail, as a state-wide infrastructure project, would have had beneficial returns for the entire state.
In 2021, billions in federal ARPA funds, which are one-time federal dollars intended for infrastructure redevelopment, were granted to the state of Missouri. This is as close to ‘free’ money as you can get.
Funding for the Rock Island Trail project was included in HB 3020. The project was planned and shovel ready. Governor Parson and the State House passed funding for the trail.
So what happened?
Here is what happened.
Senators Dan Hegeman, Lincoln Hough and the Missouri Senate Appropriations committee ‘disappeared’ the funding in a blatant exercise of political power. The version of the bill that came out of the Senate committee contained zero funding for the trail, while containing plenty of other pork spending.
Trail funding was neither discussed in committee nor did the Senate debate or vote on it.
Dis-funding the trail directly opposes the expressed interests of the many Missouri citizens and businesses who campaigned in support of the trail. The actions of a small number of state senators raises the question of who it is that our elected officials are listening to if it is not “we the people?”
Tom Wyman
Owensville
