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BOONVILLE — The founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car has pledged $200,000 toward the effort to save and refurbish an old Katy Railroad bridge that is targeted to be dismantled.
The Save the Katy Bridge Coalition said the pledge from Jack C. Taylor brings the not-for-profit group’s promised contributions to $365,000.
The group hopes to restore the bridge for use as part of Katy Trail State Park, which currently crosses the Missouri River at Boonville over a nearby highway bridge. But the current owner of the bridge, Union Pacific Railroad Co., wants to tear it down and reuse the steel for a bridge elsewhere.
The Boonville-based group has no guarantee that if it meets is $1 million goal, the bridge will be spared. But plans to remove the bridge are on hold anyway, as Attorney General Jay Nixon challenges the decision by Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration to relinquish the state’s contractual interest in using the bridge for the trail.
Taylor supports a variety of charitable and civic causes in the state.
“It’s true, I don’t do a lot of hiking or bicycling,” he said. “But I do appreciate the heritage of landmarks like the Katy Railroad bridge, and I believe the Katy Trail is a valuable asset — one worth preserving and improving for future generations.”
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