Jackson County is set to connect its Rock Island Trail with the Little Blue Trace Trail through a new connector scheduled to open September 1. The project will close a gap that had kept the two corridors separate for years.
According to KCTV, the Little Blue Trace and Rock Island trails are now officially connected, expanding Jackson County's trail network across the Kansas City area. The engineering behind the link required crossing George Road and using the Noland Road Bridge to carry the new path over the Little Blue River, according to Jackson County Parks + Rec, creating a paved riverside route that finally ties the two systems together where a river and a road had long stood in the way.
What the New Link Cost, and Who Paid
The connector carried a price tag of roughly $2.87 million, funded through $1.94 million in Jackson County local funds and $935,000 in federal highway grants administered by MoDOT and the Mid-America Regional Council, per the same account. The project was developed in partnership with the City of Kansas City.
The Little Blue Trace Trail is a multi-use pathway, and its tie-in to the Rock Island Trail creates a connection between the two corridors.
A Rail Line Turned Trail, Nearly a Decade in the Making
The new connector builds on a rail-to-trail effort that dates back to spring 2016, when Jackson County and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority acquired the 17.7-mile disused Rock Island rail corridor, according to the Jackson County Public Works Department. The former freight line once ran from Kansas City south through Raytown to Lee's Summit, and county officials preserved the right-of-way with an eye toward potential future public transit use.
Jackson County completed the Rock Island Trail in two earlier phases before this latest connector: a 6.5-mile stretch from Lee's Summit to Kansas City finished in June 2019, followed by an $11.6 million, 7.1-mile extension north to the Truman Sports Complex completed in July 2021, as Northeast News reported at the time. That 2021 extension gave trail users direct access to Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums, and with more than 150 miles of trails now under its management, Jackson County Parks and Recreation has made expanding these non-motorized corridors a priority, per the same outlet's reporting.
The Next Gap: Reaching the Katy Trail
Even with the Little Blue Trace and Rock Island trails now joined, a larger connectivity goal remains unfinished. Regional trail advocates are still working to close the Greenwood Gap between Pleasant Hill and south Lee's Summit, a link that would ultimately connect Jackson County's trail network to the Missouri Rock Island Spur and the 376.5-mile statewide Rock Island/Katy trail system, according to BikeWalkKC. Closing that gap would extend the reach of local trails.
Trail users heading toward Cass County should also expect some disruption along the broader Rock Island corridor. MoDOT's replacement of the 1948 Route 7 bridge over Big Creek has caused intermittent trail closures during 2026 for bridge demolition and girder installation, as Hoodline previously reported. That bridge project is scheduled to wrap up by December 2026, meaning the newly connected Rock Island and Little Blue Trace trails will remain part of a still-evolving regional network for the rest of the year.
