Sedalia Secures $1M Grant for Katy Trail Connection Project

The City of Sedalia in partnership with Katy Trails Sedalia, Inc. recently secured a $1,000,000 grant through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources that will fund construction of a new section of the Katy Trail.

The grant comes from the DNR's Division of State Parks and its’ Recreational Trails Program (RTP).

The City of Sedalia says the grant will fund construction of a new section of the Katy Trail coming from Boonville Road to the Katy Depot, located at 600 E. 3rd Street.
The trail currently utilizes a county road and city streets to connect from the rail-trail corridor at Greissen Road in Pettis County to the Katy Trail Depot where patrons access the corridor to travel on to the southwest towards Clinton.

The two pieces of the Katy Trail Connection Project will complete Katy Trail State Park and close the trail gap. The City’s Katy Trail Sedalia Connection Project will construct 1.5 miles of trail, 1 mile of crushed limestone, and a half-mile of concrete walking trail.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ section of the trail will be constructed from Griessen Rd. to Boonville Street in Pettis County. The City says this approximately 1.5 mile section of trail will be crushed limestone with a surface width of about 10', similar to the structure and design of the rest of Katy Trail State Park.

Katy Trail State Park has over 400,000 visitors each year and more than 7,000 of them visited the trail in Sedalia during 2017.

A press release from the City of Sedalia says this project will move thousands of walkers and bicyclists from the county and city streets onto a dedicated trail through the northeastern part of Sedalia, which is expected to result in increased safety for trail patrons, as well as increased safety for vehicles traveling in the area.

Funding for RTP grants is provided by the Federal Highway Administration through the Fixing Americans Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

MDNR-DSP administers the grant program for the state. Grant funds can be used for restoration of existing recreational trails, development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages for recreational trails, purchase or lease of recreational trail construction and maintenance equipment, construction of new
recreational trails, and acquisition of easements and property for recreational trails or recreational trail corridors. It was noted there are some restrictions for new trails on Federal lands.

The RTP grant is a reimbursement grant and that money will be reimbursed to the City of Sedalia after construction of the project. Construction of the trail is expected to begin in the spring and the work is expected to be completed next summer.