Our mission is to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living.

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1 March 2nd, 2018 To whom it may concern, I am writing you today to express BikeWalkKC s support for Jackson County s funding application regarding the Greenwood Connector Project. Understanding that this project will be a critical piece to connect the MARC Region to the KATY Trail, we are in full support. This project will connect Jackson County s Rock Island Corridor Path to the MOPAC Trail through downtown Greenwood, Missouri. It is a challenging area to build trails due to active railroad right of way and a state highway. Jackson County s plan is sound and has been vetted through stakeholder engagement and public input. We expect that Jackson County will continue to engage BikeWalkKC and other stakeholders as the project progresses. Connecting Kansas City to the KATY Trail State Park is part of BikeWalkKC s 10 year vision for transforming Greater Kansas City, and it will also complete the vision of a cross-state bicycle and pedestrian trail that advocates across Missouri have long sought. This will create an unparalleled amenity for our state that will result in an economic boon for every community that it touches. In addition to the local and statewide economic impact, this project would provide a recreational and exercise amenity allowing users of all ages and abilities to explore our region while being physically active. Please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions about our support for this great project. Thank you, Executive Director Our mission is to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living.

2 MAKING MISSOURI A BETTER PLACE TO WALK AND RIDE A BICYCLE! 1709 Missouri Blvd Ste. C #200 Jefferson City, MO MoBikeFed.org EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Brent Hugh director@ mobikefed.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Chuck Daugherty, Jefferson City Michael Hennies, St. Louis Chrysa Niewald, Owensville Steve Raper, Strafford Weslley Ridgeway, St Louis Stefanie Smith, Gladstone Michael Swan, Kansas City Laura Vie, Columbia ADVISORY COMMISSION Bruce Adib-Yazdi, Springfield Clark Allen, Poplar Bluff Virginia Blaine, Farmington Josh Boehm, Jackson County Marielle Brown, Trailnet, St Louis Kim Cella, Citizens for Modern Transit, St Louis Andy Clements, St Joseph Matt Davis, Jackson County Christopher Dunn, Columbia Gary Elmestad, St Charles Joe Ferguson, Washington David Fiedler, St Louis Kyle Frakes, Cycling Kansas City Caryn Giarratano, Jefferson City Jeff Glenn, Mercury Alliance Janet Godon, Columbia City Parks Nicholas Grigsby, St Charles Greg Harris, Missouri Rock Island Trail Trevor Harris, Columbia Coy Hart, Springfield Matt Hartman, SpokedSTL, St Louis Shawn Hayden, Springfield Douglas Hermes, Liberty William Hill, Nixa Mark Hines, Overland Park Jeff Huff, West Plains Steve Johnson, MO River Communities, Columbia KartaPurkh Khalsa, Kansas City Mary Kromrey, Ozark Greenways, Springfield Anissa Lockett, Columbia Doug Long, Green Hills Trail Association Matt Maher, Prologue Cycling Steve Marquardt, Nevada Brian McEntire, Podiatric Stress, Farmington, MO Christopher McNeese, A&B Cycles, Springfield Noah Medling, University City Martin Meyer, Hannibal Becky Nace, Blue Springs Janice Neitzert, MO Park & Rec Assoc Ralph Pfremmer, Trailnet, St Louis Vance Preman, Kansas City Dave Schieffer, Kansas City Fred Schmidt, Columbia Kim Shafer, Natl Park Service Paul Sidwell, Kansas City Paul Skeans, Ozark Sean Staggs, MS Society, Kansas City Sam Swearngin, Cycling Kansas City BJ Taylor, Kansas City Alex Tetlak, Kirksville Ian Thomas, Columbia Frank Thompson, Look 4-States Joe Torrisi, Saint Louis Annette Triplett, PedNet, Columbia Patrick Tuttle, Joplin Patrick Van Der Tuin, St Louis BWorks Laurie Vie, Columbia Patty Vinyard, St. Louis Mac Vorce, Warsaw Mike Weiss, Big Shark Bicycle Co., St. Louis Pam Wennerberg, Ballwin Robin White, Augusta Steven White, Prairie Village Mitchell Williams, Kansas City Matthew Wyczalkowski, SafeTGA, St. Louis Caroline Zukoski, St. Louis March 2 nd, 2018 Subject: Rock Island Trail / Greenwood Gap The Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation is a statewide organization working on behalf of the millions of Missourians who walk and bicycle regularly, with over 5000 direct members and 50,000 members of affiliated organizations across Missouri. We are currently in our 25th year advocating for advancement of bicycle and pedestrian access, safety and education. We are particularly interested in working to create regional bicycle route and trail connections between Missouri and our neighboring states, because of the positive economic, community, and tourism benefits those connections bring to counties and citizens in Missouri and our neighboring states. We feel very strongly that the Midwest has an opportunity to become an internationally significant bicycle and trails tourism destination. But creating this type of tourism destination requires a extensive, interconnected, seamless, and well planned regional bicycle routes and trail systems crossing over over state borders. The benefit of these trail and route systems are many, and especially benefit smaller rural and outstate communities. Bicycle tourists stay longer, spend more per day and more trip, and are far more likely to spend time and money exploring out-of-the way local tourism destinations. Our most significant current opportunity is the Rock Island Trail. This trail has the potential to be over 210 miles in length, connecting the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas. As such, it is potentially one of the longest single trails in the midwest. But additionally, the Rock Island Trail has the potential to connect with Missouri s Katy Trail in two locations Windsor and Washington. This means that the Katy/Rock Island system will consist of more than 500 miles of interconnected railtrails united in one system, connecting the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas with dozens of Missouri communities in between. We know that the longer a trail system, the further people will travel to use it and the longer they will stay. That means that a complete, connected, seamless trail system has the potential to be an amazing tourism and economic development driver for Katy and Rock Island communities. And that is all in addition to the very significant health and economic benefits the

3 A BICYCLE! MAKING MISSOURI A BETTER PLACE TO WALK AND RIDE PAGE 2 corridor w ill bring to existing nearby residents and communities. Local residents also find a complete, connected, statewide trail system to be more attractive and more usable than a system that is fragmented, disconnected, and localized. For those reasons, we have placed as one of our highest statewide priorities making the trail connection from the Kansas City area to the Katy Trail and the approximately 157 miles of the Rock Island Trail that lies outside the KC metro area, as seamless and gap-free as possible. As the trails and trail plans currently stand, by far the biggest and most important gap in this seamless statewide trail system is the Greenwood Gap. This gap separates the planned 17.7 miles of Jackson County Rock Island Trail from the existing 47 miles of Rock Island Trail and 210 miles of Katy Trail that is connected to the Rock Island. The additional planned 110 miles of Rock Island Trail from Windsor to Beaufort will directly connect to both the existing 47-mile Rock Island Trail section and the Katy Trail but is disconnected from the Kansas City metro area by the Greenwood Gap. For these reasons, we consider the Greenwood Gap to be currently the highest priority trail segment in Missouri. It is the single trail gap that currently stands in the way of a complete, connected, statewide trail system over 275 miles in length and potentially a complete, connected statewide trail loop system over 500 miles in length. More than simply the total system length, the Greenwood Gap separates the Kansas City metro area one of the largest population centers in the state from the rest of the statewide Katy/Rock Island Trail system. Filling the Greenwood Gap also creates the potential to link the Katy/Rock Island Trail System to substantial trail systems in Kansas, in St. Joseph, and north to Iowa and Nebraska (the socalled Quad-State Trail or Multi-State Trail System ). All of these trail systems, and the entirety of the Kansas City metro area s planned trail system, will connect to the Katy/Rock Island system via the Greenwood Gap. As such, the Greenwood Gap project benefits the entire Kansas City Metro area, as

4 MAKING MISSOURI A BETTER PLACE TO WALK AND RIDE A BICYCLE! PAGE 3 well as numerous surrounding communities connected and potentially connected by trail systems in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska. For those reasons, we hope that you will give funding for the Greenwood Gap section of the Rock Island Trail a very high priority in your funding decision. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely yours, Brent Hugh Executive Director

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