Judge rules against environmentalists in Katy bridge case

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by an environmental group that had sought to save an old Missouri River railroad bridge as a potential part of the Katy Trail State Park.

The ruling Tuesday by Cole County Judge Byron Kinder follows his April ruling against Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon in a similar lawsuit. The lawsuits claimed, among other things, that the state had a property interest in the bridge that could not legally be relinquished by Republican Gov. Matt Blunt's administration.

But Kinder ruled in Nixon's case that the Department of Natural Resources had no property interest in or current contract rights to the Boonville bridge. Nixon has appealed that decision to the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.

Union Pacific Railroad Co., the bridge's current owner, wants to dismantle the unused bridge and reuse its steel for a new bridge over the Osage River east of Jefferson City. Blunt's administration supports that move.

Opponents had pointed to a 1987 agreement by which the state acquired 200 miles of rail line from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas-Railroad for use as a trail that could someday revert to an active rail line, if necessary. That deal kept ownership of the bridge with the railroad but gave the state the right to use it for the trail if it assumed liability on terms acceptable to the railroad. Those conditions never have been met, Kinder said.

Union Pacific cited Kinder's earlier ruling when renewing a request last week that he dismiss the similar lawsuit brought by St. Louis-based Great Rivers Environmental Law Center on behalf of several bicyclists and a donor who helped finance the hiking and biking trail.

Kinder did not cite a reason for dismissing the Great Rivers case.

The dismissal was welcomed by the environmental center, which said it planned to appeal just as Nixon did.

"Our case is sitting there, languishing and it's not going anywhere," said Great Rivers attorney Bruce Morrison. "This is a chance to get it moving again."

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the railroad is waiting on the legal appeals to be resolved before moving ahead with plans to take down the bridge.