By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph city councilmember hopes a new hiking and biking trail on the bluffs of the Missouri River will attract tourists to the city.
Councilmember Madison Davis is pleased the council has entered into a contract with Nomad Trails Development and Ideker to create a multi-use trail along the bluff ridge above the Missouri River in north St. Joseph.
“Many people would remember that as the park that’s not a park,” Davis says. “It had the WPA ruins built there many, many years ago and were never really ever able to be utilized by the citizens.”
Once completed, there will be bike trails off the main hiking trail.
The new trail is located between I-229 and Waterworks Road, north of Highland Avenue. The River Bluff Bike Trail Project contract is not to exceed $1.55 million.
Plans call for creation of an approximately 10,000-foot recreational bicycle and hiking trail with as much as 20,000 feet specifically devoted to a mountain bike trail.
The Missouri River bluffs hiking and biking trail will pass by the remnants of two old, WPA structures and a farmstead, opening public land mostly cut off from the public.
“Areas that are public property, that don’t get used very much, where you could for a low cost generate tourism dollars off of it,” Davis says. “There are several places that have done studies (about) spending for trails of this type and they are saying on an annual basis you (will) get twice as much back as what you’ve put into it in the beginning.”
Davis says turning a long-neglected piece of public property into a tourist attraction isn’t a far-fetched idea. He says several studies outline the attraction of hiking and biking trails, bringing enthusiasts to a city where they spend money for lodging and meals.
And Davis adds, it’s a low risk investment.
“We’ve never gotten any use out of it beyond people being able to walk and hike up there currently,” according to Davis. “To be able to develop it so it can generate tourism dollars is the idea.”