Boonville bridge battle rages in court

For two years, the Boonville Lift Bridge has been at the center of a contentious ownership battle pitting politicians against politicians and a big money company against the interests of a small town. The fight over the bridge, referred to as the Katy Bridge by citizens who want to renovate it for pedestrian use as part of Katy Trail State Park, is still working its way through Missouri’s courts.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and its director say the Union Pacific Railroad Co. owns the bridge. But Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon and other Missourians say the state acquired property interest in the bridge when its previous owner, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, and a former DNR director signed the 1987 Rails to Trails agreement. The bridge has been at the core of two lawsuits, both of which are on appeal in the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District.

Here’s a look back at the bridge’s recent history:

July 2004: Union Pacific Railroad Co. announces its intention to dismantle the bridge and use the recycled steel to build a new bridge near Jefferson City.

Dec. 24, 2004: Stephen Mahfood, then director of DNR, sends a letter to Union Pacific claiming the department’s right to use the bridge as part of Katy Trail State Park.

May 26, 2005: Nixon sues the DNR, DNR Director Doyle Childers and Union Pacific to keep the bridge under state control.

Nov. 21, 2005: Ken Midkiff, conservation chair of the Missouri Sierra Club, and Jeff Smith, a political science professor at Washington University and Democratic congressional candidate, sue DNR, its director and Union Pacific on behalf of bicyclists.

April 25, 2006: Cole County Circuit Judge Byron L. Kinder rules that the state has no property interest in the Boonville Lift Bridge.

April 27, 2006: Nixon files an appeal of the judgment in the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District.

July 18, 2006: Kinder dismisses Midkiff and Smith’s lawsuit.

Aug. 25, 2006: Midkiff and Smith file an appeal of their case in the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District.

Sept. 21, 2006: The appeals court allows three former DNR directors, the former vice president of the MKT Railroad and a woman who helped fund the creation and development of Katy Trail State Park to file a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Nixon’s arguments. This is significant, said Midkiff and Smith’s attorney Bruce Morrison, because it allows the people most knowledgeable about the agreement to tell the appeals court what they know.