We take a closer look at some of the country’s earliest rail-trails, and how they helped inspire and build a nationwide movement.

Nearly three decades after its inception, the need for the RTP has only intensified as trail development accelerates nationally. The country has increased its number of rail-trails from around 500 to more than 2,200.

Here’s a look at RTC and a decade of rail-trails—their power and their impact. As the 2010s built momentum, opportunities to maximize the power of these essential community assets became clear.

This year, America and the rail-trail movement saw giant leaps, and small-but-no-less-important bounds, that have helped to achieve RTC’s goal of connecting the country by trail like never before.

As Congress considers how it can meet the transportation needs of 21st-century America, RTC encourages them to consider the positive impacts active transportation can have on communities and how connected trail networks and spines are a significant part of the answer.

RTC's put together this little trail-geek cheat sheet so that we can all bone up on our trail and active-transportation policy speak.

In 2016, RTC celebrated its 30th anniversary and the birth and evolution of the American Rail-Trail Movement.

In anticipation of RTC’s West Virginia Sojourn in June 2016—the “Wild and Wonderful North Bend Trail”—we’re pleased to feature this great pathway as our December Trail of the Month.