Here is yet another trail-related item from a KC-area suburb! The Examiner reports that this spring Independence and Jackson County will extend the trail that runs through the Little Blue Trace nature preserve. This popular 11 mile streamway trail follows the Little Blue River from US 24 down to the big box retail district at I-70 and Little Blue Parkway. The planned 3.5 mile extension will take the trail south of I-70 and west to Lee’s Summit Road.

MetroGreen, the regional trail plan, envisions a 24 mile mile along the Little Blue from the Missouri River to Longview Lake. The latest extensions is paying paid for with a combination of local money and Transportation Enhancements funds from the federal government.

• Little Blue Trace trail info/map from Jackson County Parks and Rec.
• Independence Examiner: Still in the works to grow Little Blue Trace.
• KCBike.Info’s map of Little Blue trail and extension.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Independence Examiner

Still in the works to grow Little Blue Trace
Construction slated for spring 2008

By Rhiannon Ross | Rhiannon.ross@examiner.net

A favorite local trail will be several miles longer, but not just yet.

Plans to extend the Little Blue Trace trail by 3.5 miles over the summer and fall did not happen.

“It’s still in the works,” said Tom Garland, parks contract manager for Independence Parks and Recreation. “We had plans to do it in the summer and fall but were unable to do it.”

Garland spearheaded the effort for the city, which will extend the 11-mile gravel trail from Interstate 70 south to Lee’s Summit Road, following the Little Blue River.

“The logistics of getting all of the required information to start the project took some time that we weren’t anticipating,” he said. “We had to work with the federal government and the state highway department and the city of Independence and Jackson County, so working with all of those groups together was a little complicated, but I think we’re on the downhill side of all of that.”

He also cited winter weather as a reason.

“It’s not really the best time to construct a trail. So once we get warmer temperatures, we’ll kick the project back up again.”

Construction is now slated to begin in spring 2008.

Both Independence Parks and Recreation and Jackson County Parks and Recreation applied for, and received, grants from the Missouri Department of Transportation to extend the trail.

Transportation enhancement grants are not directly automobile-related but are used instead for such efforts as the beautification of walking and bike trails. The grants, established under the Intermodel Surface Transportation Equity Act in 1991, require each state to save 10 percent of their surface transportation funds to be used on activities other than roads.

Independence received $175,185 from the grant, with a city match of $58,395, to extend the trail by 1 mile. City money will be derived from a combination of both city funds and the Eastland tax increment financing bond. The 1-mile extension in Independence will complete the trail within Independence.

Jackson County received $473,000 from the grant, with a county match of $157,677, to extend the trail by 2.5 miles. The County Legislature just approved its share of the funding last week.

The Little Blue Trace borders Little Blue River from Longview Lake north to Blue Mills Road.

Future plans include extending the park’s recreational trail system to the entire 24 miles of the greenway, which will become a main artery of the MetroGreen Plan. MetroGreen is a proposed 1,144-mile interconnected system of public and private open spaces, greenways and trails designed to link seven counties in the Kansas City metropolitan area.