Missourians for Responsible Transportation [MRT] and our partners (BikeWalkKC–Kansas City // Local Motion–Columbia // Ozark Greenways–Springfield // Trailnet–St. Louis) advance transportation opportunities for Missourians.
Learn more about who we are, what we do, and why we do it in our 2025 MRT Annual Update.
Our mission is to be the leader in fostering strong communities by aligning advocacy efforts for streets, roads, and trails that work for all Missourians.
Jackson Hotaling expanded his leadership role in MRT as the Director of Policy & Programs, where he traveled across the state to build coalitions while learning about Missouri's transportation challenges and opportunities. This year, he worked to demonstrate statewide interest and need for Missouri to implement a statewide active transportation planning framework. He coordinated a broad coalition of partners, conducted extensive research, and represented Missouri's active transportation users as a member of the Executive Committee for MoDOT's 2026 Long-Range Transportation Plan update. With the growing momentum for active transportation infrastructure in rural and urban areas, Jackson is excited to advance advocacy for transportation options in 2o26.
Rikki Ascani previously worked for Local Motion for over 5 years before transitioning her community engagement skills to the state level! Rikki worked on building the bridge between Local Motion's advocacy and the community's needs through their CoMo Livable Streets campaign, community leader programs, and building solidarity for transportation access with local organizations and coalitions. As MRT's Community Engagement Director, she has big shoes to fill building relationships and working with communities and Rikki is excited to get working to build a Missouri that works for everyone.
Cindy DeBlauw supports MRT on a part-time basis assisting with the implementation of Department of Health and Senior Service and University of Missouri Extension projects. The most satisfying part of Cindy's job is working with a dedicated group of professionals across the state to make transportation safer and more accessible.
MRT began our second cohort of the MO DHSS-administered SPAN program, where we lead active transportation technical assistance strategies with community partners. This year, we continued our relationship with four southeastern MO regional planning commissions, and introduced four new communities to the project: Cabool, Doniphan, Park Hills, and Campbell.
Throughout 2025 and now in the project's third year, MRT hosted several trainings for the project, including convening our community partners in Poplar Bluff. The Cohort 1 communities (Birch Tree, Ironton, Hayti Heights, and Qulin) have completed their active transportation plans and are joining us in mentoring Cohort 2 communities as they begin community engagement efforts to create their own active transportation plans!
For questions about the project, email Christine Schrader with MO DHSS (Christine.Schrader@health.mo.gov).
MRT is also a technical assistance provider for the High Obesity Program, administered by the University of Missouri Extension. Similar to SPAN, this project allows us to support active transportation planning and capacity building in additional areas of Southeast Missouri.
MRT rolled out several community engagement projects in 2025, and we will expand on them into 2026:
To partner on this project, please reach out to Jollyn Tyryfter with MU Extension (jtyryfter@missouri.edu).
MRT is advocating for MoDOT to adopt a statewide active transportation plan to address critical gaps in safety, funding, connectivity, and policy for non-motorized transportation across Missouri.
A Missouri statewide active transportation plan would:
We are now requesting letters of support from organizations to move this advocacy forward. If you represent an organization and support the need for a statewide active transportation plan, please write a letter of support. Letters will be consolidated and shared as part of MoDOT's 2026 Long-Range Transportation Plan update public comment period: open in March 2026.
Please send completed letters to jackson@movingmissouri.org by March 20, 2026.
Four 2025 statewide planning initiatives are making clear recommendations for active transportation, with more planning initiatives to be released in 2026. MRT has tracked these important plan updates, and we encourage stakeholders and the general public to stay engaged and push for proposed active transportation recommendations.
On December 18th, 2025, Missouri Complete Streets Advisory Committee hosted a series of four presentations to discuss these planning updates and how they impact active transportation in Missouri:
Active Transportation Recommendations
Active Transportation Recommendations
Active Transportation Recommendations
Active Transportation Recommendations
MRT continues to lead monthly update meetings to coordinate advocacy efforts for Rock Island Trail State Park. New trail segments are making immense headway across the entire Rock Island Trail corridor. Ribbon cuttings for new trail segments and groundbreakings for future segments have been growing throughout the corridor, with more anticipated in 2026.
MO State Parks' Rock Island Trail webpage and map shares the latest construction updates:
We lead coalitions and serve on working groups that forward our mission:
