The Chadwick Flyer Trail system continues to take shape in Ozark.
The multi-modal pedestrian and bike path project will cross the city and connect Ozark with Springfield and the Ozark Greenways system. Nearly 12 miles of trails are built or planned to complete the connection.
This week the Ozark Board of Alderman approved moving forward with the project’s next phase, which includes 7,000 feet of new trail and a pedestrian and bike bridge over Highway 65 just north of town. When it's finished in spring 2026 it will complete a gap in the trail, connecting a part of the trail at the OC in Ozark with another piece that ends in the Olde World Estates neighborhood on the northside.
Public Works Director Jeremy Parsons said he dreams of eventually being able to walk from the Chadwick Flyer in downtown Ozark to the end of the Frisco Trail, which runs from Springfield to Bolivar.
“To sum it up in one word,” Parsons explained, “connectivity, back in 2016 we really started looking at aerial photos and trying to determine how we can get connectivity between our communities.”
Parsons said a team from Ozark took inspiration from community feedback and from the Razorback Greenway, a 40-mile trail system in northwest Arkansas, that connects over a half-dozen communities and has helped make that area a destination for biking.
Parsons said they “took a two-day trip down there. They walked us through the trail.” He said they explained the benefits and challenges, and when they came back to Ozark they were “fortunate, in looking at aerials in laying this out, it really stood out to us that we’ve got the old Chadwick Flyer Trail line that was abandoned.”
The Chadwick Flyer was a train that once ran cargo between Springfield and Chadwick, Missouri in southeast Christian County. He said the City of Ozark has held deeds to much of the old Chadwick Flyer’s line since the 80s.
Parsons and his team saw an opportunity to make use of that old rail line and saw the regional pride, economic and quality of life benefits of the Razorback trails in Arkansas. The city had also already seen success with the Finley River Trail in downtown Ozark.
He said they did their homework and developed partnerships with Ozark Greenways, the Ozarks Transportation Organization, the Ozark School District, Tracker Marine / Bass Pro and, of course, landowners, who Parsons said have been understandably concerned but largely supportive.
He said, “at the end of the day we’re a bunch of Missourians, too, we value our rights, and we don’t want to force anybody to do anything.” And, he said, “in the state of Missouri, we’re not allowed to use eminent domain for a trail. This has all been voluntary or through acquisition.” He said they’ve had success because of the vision of the project and their ability to convey that vision to the community.
“This property owner right here with the barn,” Parsons explained, as we walked along a section of the trail near Jackson Street, “when we first presented this it was a hard ‘I don’t think that’s going to happen,’ and then as we showed him the vision, they’ve jumped on board and become one of the larger cheerleaders.” He is proud the project has that sort of relationship with the community. “He’s a legacy landowner in Ozark," he said, "and now he has reached out to us and asked to be there when we cut the ribbon on the overpass.”
Parsons said the overpass is a major piece of the project he didn’t think they’d get to until much later, but he is excited to see it completed in the next phase, and to have the bridge spanning 65 as a landmark for the Chadwick Flyer Trail and the city of Ozark.
Recent injections of ARPA money and other federal grants into the state have given the whole project a sense of urgency. Years of planning had them in a good position to take advantage. They started phase one in 2020, taking on the easiest phases of construction and completing a scattering of small trails over the last few years. Now they are starting to connect.
He hopes the Chadwick Flyer Trail will soon go on to connect to the Trail of Honor at the Missouri Veteran’s Cemetery and to trails at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center.
He one day hopes it will be a sort of open-air museum, celebrating our corner of the Ozarks.
“Right now,” he said, “our mission is to get trail on the ground. Throughout the years we’ll keep adding amenities (like) trailheads, kiosks, benches, historical landmarks.”
First though, he just hopes the trail can help people get outdoors and unplug and, as importantly, get them where they need to go.