Kirksville, Missouri - Transportation

Transportation

The City of Kirksville operates the Kirksville Regional Airport (formerly Clarence Cannon Airport), four miles (6 km) south of the city, by the village of Millard. Kirksville, by way of La Plata, is serviced by Amtrak's Southwest Chief which runs along the BNSF Railway.

Kirksville once had two operational railroads that ran through town. The east-west rail line was originally incorporated as the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad, which was renamed several times during financial restructuring and changing hands numerous times, until in 1897 it became the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad. Financial problems continued, and it was operated by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad after 1903 and later absorbed by that company, which in turn became Burlington Northern in 1970. The portion of the line that ran west of Kirksville towards Green City was abandoned and eventually torn down in the early 1950s. The portion of the line that ran east of town towards Edina, Labelle, and West Quincy was scrapped in 1982 - 1983, after the Staggers Rail Act deregulated the rail industry. The depot which serviced along the Burlington Northern in Kirksville still stands along Elson Street just north of Cottonwood Street and plans are that it will be renovated.

Kirksville’s other railroad, the Wabash Railroad, which became the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1960 and later became the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982 after N&W merged with Southern Railway, ran north and south. In April 1992, the last official NS train ran the line between Albia, IA and Moberly, MO as the railroad announced it would abandon the line due to a loss in profit. During the summer of 1993, the railroad reopened to train traffic as the floods of the midwest affected lines around the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Trains continued to run the line until 1995. After failed attempts from buyers wanting to purchase the line and turn it into a shortline railroad, work began on tearing down the railroad from Moberly, MO northward toward La Plata, MO where it has a connection with the BNSF Railway and from Moulton, IA southward toward La Plata, MO. The portion of the line from Moulton, IA northward towards Albia was purchased by the Appanoose County Community Railroad. In late September 1997, the tracks through Kirksville were finally torn down leaving the city without a rail line. The project to tear down the abandoned line was completed by the end of 1997.

In 1952, the United States Air Force opened a radar base that was home to the 790th Radar Squadron, an Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, in Sublette, Missouri|Sublette, about 10 mi (16 km) north of Kirksville. The Air Force deactivated the 790th Radar Squadron in 1968. The Federal Aviation Administration took over running the radar and most of the surrounding 78.51 acres (317,700 m2) were given to Northeast Missouri State University. The current radar, an Air Route Surveillance Radar - Model 3, is a long-range radar that feeds data to air traffic control centers that control aircraft flying over the region.

Three fatal airplane accidents have occurred near Kirksville:

1. On May 6, 1935, a plane carrying Senator Bronson Cutting of New Mexico crashed south of Kirksville, killing him. As a result, Congress created the Civil Aeronautics Administration..
2. On May 22, 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11, heading to Kansas City from Chicago under heavy weather, was brought down by a dynamite explosion northwest of Kirksville. Some aviation historians consider this the first act of aviation terrorism in history.
3. On October 20, 2004, Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 (now RegionsAir) crashed just south of Kirksville Regional Airport, killing 13 of 15 passengers and crew.