Twenty years ago this month, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued a Certificate of Interim Trail Use to the Rails-to-Trails Coalition of Kansas (now named Sunflower Recreational Trails) for the former Missouri Pacific Railroad corridor (aka Landon Trail). The Landon Nature Trail, which stretches 38 miles between Topeka and Overbrook, was the first long-distance rail-trail to be railbanked in Kansas, if one excludes a shorter line railbanked by Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and never developed. Opposition from adjacent landowners, an excursion railroad group called Pioneer Legacy Foundation, Shawnee County Parks and Recreation, and the Union Pacific Railroad was extremely intense. However, a lawsuit filed by RTCK in the US Court of Appeals in Denver got the attention of UP. At that point, the Kansas Secretary of Wildlife and Parks brokered a deal between RTCK, the railroad and Pioneer Legacy Foundation. The trail was named after former Kansas Gov. Alf Landon who would regularly ride his horse along the right-of-way. Twenty years later the multi-purpose trail is almost complete in Shawnee County. It can be said that the initiators of the trail project paved the way for all rail-trails in Kansas. The Landon Trail project demonstrates that persistence is necessary when developing rail-trails in the Sunflower State.
The Grand Opening of the Phase III (Welda-Iola) of the 51-mile Prairie Spirit Trail has been postponed until the Pottawatomie Creek Bridge project north of Garnett is completed. Depending upon the weather and other factors, it is expected the bridge will be rebuilt by Labor Day. Trail users can still ride or walk the entire distance of the rail-trail including a short detour around the bridge. When details of the Grand Opening become available, they will be posted in future editions of this newsletter.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy maintains a website on which you can look up many of the rail-trails in America and even view maps of the trails. Check it out at www.traillink.com.
The right-of-way acquisition process is continuing for the Burroughs Creek Trail in eastern Lawrence. Last week the City exercised eminent domain for several parcels along the rail corridor because the owners refused to sell for the fair market price. The rail corridor north of 23rd Street was never railbanked under the National Trails Act. The City expects bids to be let within the next few weeks and construction to start as early as July. The trail could be completed this year depending upon the weather, etc. and certainly by spring. The ultimate goal of trails activists is to extend the trail north over the Kaw River to the Riverfront Levee Trail and south from 29th Street through the Baker Wetlands to the Wakarusa River. Then the five-mile trail may be renamed the Two Rivers or River to River Trail.
The Guardian (UK) (7 May 2009) reports that mountain biking is becoming very popular in Scotland, especially on scenic islands such as the Isle of Skye. Scotland's open access laws mean everything you see, you can attempt to ride. Only the remote, rugged terrain imposes limits on mountain bikers. This also applies to ramblers, walkers, backpackers and hikers.