City endorses trail vision

By Chris Pannbacker - The Marysville Advocate

Dec 11, 2025

A conceptual plan for connecting the Blue River Rail Trail, Pony Park and the historic Union Pacific Depot was endorsed unanimously Monday night by the Marysville City Council in front of a full house of citizens.

In a written statement to the council, Maureen Crist, a member of the Blue River Rail Trail Corridor Steering Committee, said the visionary plan would complete the trail connection from it current southern terminus at Calhoun Street into the historic core of Marysville, linking directly to the Union Pacific depot and Pony Park.

“This extension represents more than a physical improvement—It’s a strategic investment in Marysville‘s continued growth, identity, and tourism economy,” Crist wrote.

“Bringing trail visitors directly to the UP depot and Pony Park will strengthen the city’s position as a gateway to regional heritage tourism while encouraging longer visits and increased local spending, particularly with its connections to the historic Broadway Street district,” she said.

The committee asked the council for three things Monday night: to support and endorse the rail trail/linear park with the public, to encourage, support and participate in dialogue with regional, state and federal leadership and for support in promoting and starting the process prior to obtaining grants and donations.

Crist told the council there had been numerous plans created for the seventh Street corridor since the railroad tracks were removed that never gained traction

“This time we decided to try something different,” she said. “This time the process began with research and conversations.”

She described meetings with stakeholders that included the Blue River Rail Trail Committee, historic Union Pacific depot committee, OneMarysville, Partnership for Growth, adjacent property owners along 7th St., Marysville Youth Advisory Committee, Marysville, Community Foundation, and Marysville Farmers Market. The presentation included a list of other local, state and federal agencies yet to be contacted. Conversations also were held with property owners for Pepsi of Marysville, NAPA Auto Parts, Schroller Collision Center and Crome Lumber.

Seeking grants

The goal is to be in position to apply for a Kansas Department of Transportation grant with a Feb. 1 application deadline.

Architect, Greg Yager, who brought his K-State design studio students to Marysville to work on ideas for the corridor previously, narrated a slide presentation that outlined conceptual plans for a gateway from U.S. 36 to the trail, that includes pavilions, plazas, playgrounds, outdoor game areas, bioswales with native Kansas plants to help with water runoff in the area, public restrooms, and markings to connect the trail across  U.S. 36 to Pony Park and the southern portion of the trail. The drawings featured ideas for districts and portals that include included interpretation of the cities railroad history and the cities connection to the Big Blue River. There is space for gathering, special events, and food trucks.

Yager identified two main sections from Center Street on Seventh Street to Carolina and from Carolina on Seventh to Calhoun. The area is about 1,100 feet long and 80 feet wide. Essentially this area now is gravel and reflects the scars of track removal.

Distance from the trailhead at Jayhawk Road to Center Street is about 6,000 feet

The group said key issues for consideration in the planning process were to complete the rail trail from the north trail head to Pony Park, find ways to use the trail and linear park to “stitch“ east and west Marysville together, to capture the synergy of the depot with the Pony Park and historic district and to use the linear park to create a Seventh Street address north and south of Pony Park.

“We believe this project is essential to Marysville‘s long-term development and visibility. Trail-based recreation and heritage tourism are powerful, economic drivers for rural communities and this connection allows Marysville to fully capture that opportunity,“ Crist wrote in the handout.

Connecting with donors

Key factors the committee identified for completion art to validate the design direction through community engagement, obtained startup funding to determine design, construction, budget, and grant writing support, develop a funding strategy that will include local, state and federal grants and potential public and private donors, to engage resources from Kansas State University, including the College of Architecture and the K-State 105 program, to seek political support from the city council to pursue other local, state and federal offices, and agencies and to obtain council endorsement in working with agencies, such as the Kansas Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, the state’s Community Development Block Grant program and other entities.

Yager said the project could build a front door to Marysville.

“It’s your history. It’s your heritage. It’s your identity,” he said.

Yager said a $27 million investment in a trail project in Carmel Indiana, saw a return of $167 million

He cited statistics that the average cyclist spends $80 to $200 per trip if not more. He showed a slide that documented a rise in internet interest in the Blue River Rail Trail during the towns annual Gravel Dash bicycle event.

“More riders, more tourists, more spending,” he said.

Yager credited owner, Rob Peschel and Architect Dean Randolph of CES Group for much of the work on the presentation slides, and the video presented at the meeting.

Mayor Todd Frye, who is a trail user and cyclist, said, “I think we should give our full-throated support to it.”

He credited the work done in the grassroots effort for moving the project forward.

“We’ve had a lot of false starts on this over the years,” he said

“How amazing would it be to walk in downtown Marysville and walk through a park like that,“ council member Kris Schrater said. “How exciting it is to see something like this.“

Future generations

Frye said he enjoyed hearing reactions from the Youth Advisory Committee when Crist met with them at their November meeting.

“They understand it was something that they will still benefit from and people younger than them will benefit from,” Frye said. “It’s got elements for all generations.”

Council member Keith Beikman, who had commented at the last meeting about how the new CES Group building and the Marshall County Health Department have improved. The 600 block of Broadway, said if Seventh Street’s development looked anything like the presentation, many things would takeoff in the community.

“You’ve got my full support,” he said.

‘Built in layers’

Yager said the project is a complex undertaking, “but it is built in layers….not only physical layers, but funding layers as well.”

Council member Jeff Keating said the city needed to be in the business of providing infrastructure for the city.

“We are not in the business of designing and building parks. We are in the business of providing the infrastructure for these people to do it,” he said, noting that the city does need to be in the business of making sure that city utilities and services work effectively.