Curtis Kimbel, 13, Brandon Youngerman, 13, and April Crites, 12, were a traveling trio Thursday afternoon, making their daily trek home along West Independence Street from Jackson Middle School.

As they walked, several cars -- some perhaps from Oak Ridge, others transporting children home from school -- whizzed by just a few feet away. They were only supposed to be moving 35 miles per hour, but the vehicles seemed to be traveling much faster.

This half-mile stretch of roadway, which extends as Route D outside city limits, has no sidewalks or shoulders, even though there is a well-kept subdivision, a trailer park, a funeral home and a school along the roadway.

Where Rocky Branch creek flows under the roadway, Kimbel said he and his friends have no choice but to walk for a short piece on pavement made for vehicles.

So when told that plans were in the works to put in a walking and biking trail that would connect the middle school with the city park, Kimbel and company thought that was a pretty good idea.

"It will be a lot better," he said. "This highway is pretty dangerous. I've almost been hit plenty of times just trying to cross the creek."

Linking schools, parks

On Friday, the city submitted plans to the Missouri Department of Transportation for a 6-foot-wide concrete trail, the first phase of a long-term plan that, when executed, will connect every school and park within the city. All told, the city plans to build about nine miles of trails.

The first section of trails, the West Independence Street section, has been in the works for quite some time and it is more a necessity than for recreational purposes, say MoDOT and city officials.

Eighty percent of the first phase will be paid through a federal funding structure called the service transportation program. The city will pay for the rest.

The STP funds nontraditional transportation projects like walking trails. Each MoDOT district in the state receives a pot of STP money that is dispersed at the discretion of the district.

"We look at the applications and the needs that are identified and the amount of people who would be served," said Steve Duke, project manager with MoDOT. Information about school children walking along the West Independence Street-Route D roadway got MoDOT's attention.

"That poses a safety situation and this project would move them away from the highway," he said. "Safety is the highest priority statewide on all projects, and safety was the biggest issue here."

Jackson alderman David Reiminger agreed.

"Kids don't have any business walking alongside that highway," he said. "There's a safety concern here."

The trail will be built upon state right-of-way property, but it will be built close to several homes, including Glenn Oldham's yard at the corner of West Independence Street and Strawberry Lane.

"It doesn't bother me one bit," Oldham said. "They need something for the kids. As long as I can still mow around it, I won't have any problem with it."

Waters and Associates of Sikeston, Mo., did the engineering on the project. The construction contract has yet to be bid. Duke said construction on the trail should begin in June and be completed in September. The overall cost to build the trail will be about $200,000.

Jackson city engineer Dan Triller said many parties cooperated in this project. Once MoDOT agreed to use STP funds and donate the right of way for the trails, Triller also had to work with the utility companies to get permission to build the trail on top of the land where their pipes and cables are buried.

"We got agreements with the utility companies and we really appreciate their cooperation," Triller said. "And MoDOT should get a pat on the back because they launched the whole idea of funding and were instrumental in making this happen."

Second-phase trail

Once the West Independence Street phase is completed, Jackson public works director Rodney Bollinger said the second phase of the city's trail system will begin. That section, called the Rocky Branch phase, will connect at West Independence Street and Orchard Elementary School at Orchard Drive. Aside from the West Independence Street-Route D trail and a trail that MoDOT has proposed it will build parallel to Highway 34-72, the rest of the trails will be built by the city's street department, Bollinger said. The city has not pinned down a time frame nor cost estimates for the entire trail system. Bollinger said the city will pay and complete the projects over time as funding allows.

The third phase will connect Orchard Elementary School to West Jackson Boulevard.

Eventually, the trail system will go as far south as the soon-to-be-built soccer park off Route PP, up to Jefferson Street by the high school, northwest along Goose Creek through Litz Park, back west through undeveloped land and through Brookside Park where it will fork north to the industrial park along North High Street and south back toward City Park.

"I'd be interested in that," said Stephanie Goddard of Gordonville, who was speed-walking while pushing her son's stroller along the trail around Jackson City Park Friday. "It would be a nice place to ride bikes because there's really not enough room to do that here."

Karen Nolan, who was also walking in the park Friday, said she'd probably continue to walk through the park since she lives in a home on nearby Farmington Road. Still, she said, her children could use the interconnected trails to ride their bicycles.

"And it would be nice for the whole city to have a trail where they could hop on and get some exercise," she said. "I think it's a good idea."

Jeff Bollinger, the director of operations with the Jackson School District, said the trails are a welcome development.

"It looks to me like they will be pretty helpful when walking from school to school," he said. "It will be in an area that will be good for the public and will take a lot of traffic off the roads. It will tie a lot of playgrounds together and should be a scenic and very relaxing atmosphere. It will be a nice little tie where parents will be able to walk right up to schools, receive their children in pretty weather and maybe walk home together."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635