Missouri Bicycle News

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said today he’s going to do whatever he can legally to save the 72-year-old railroad bridge at the center of a tug of war between Union Pacific Railroad and supporters of the cross-state Katy trail.

Nixon has been looking into a decision by Gov. Matt Blunt to relinquish the Missouri River bridge to the railroad, which plans to dismantle it for parts that would be used to build another railroad trestle over the Osage River.

"I am concerned that they would want to give away the bridge," Nixon said of the Department of Natural Resources and Blunt after meeting with bridge-preservation supporters in Boonville. "I’m concerned that they would want to walk away from the bridge."

Neither Blunt’s office nor DNR sought Nixon’s advice before deciding to relinquish the structure to Union Pacific, the attorney general said.