Missouri is becoming quite a state for hiking/biking trails. We’re on the hiking/biking map in the United States.Gov. Jay Nixon was in St. Louis last week at Ameren Missouri headquarters to announce that by the end of next year, a 144-mile stretch of a former railroad line is expected to be transferred to the state for use as a hiking/biking trail.The plan is to develop the former Rock Island rail line from Windsor in Western Missouri to Beaufort in Franklin County. The rail line from St. Louis to Beaufort still is in use. Industries in Union depend on it.Ameren purchased the line in 1999. The portion from Beaufort to Windsor has not been used for railroad purposes for more than two decades.The plan is to transfer ownership of the 144-mile stretch of former rail line to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources by 2017.Its sister trail is the Katy Trail, just north of Franklin County, which passes through St. Charles and Warren counties. The total length across the state, from St. Charles County to Kansas City, is about 290 miles.When the new Highway 47 bridge over the Missouri River at Washington is completed, there will be a direct connection to the Katy Trail from Washington. The new $62.9 million bridge will have a hiking/biking trail on the west side of the bridge. Highway 47 in Warren County will have a hiking/biking lane from the bridge to Dutzow.Not many states can lay claim to having a hiking/biking trail that crosses an entire state. Missouri has it in the Katy Trail.It will take time, but the extension of the former Rock Island rail trail from Beaufort to Windsor promises to be popular.