The Great American Rail-Trail Vision
Nebraska’s Cowboy Trail | Photo by Eric Foster
Imagine a trail that connects the country …
Picture yourself … pedaling across the entire country on a safe, seamless and scenic pathway—or walking a local trail that connects along historic routes. Imagine the incomparable experience of exploring America’s heritage by trail—its potential, its beauty and bounty, its people and places. Consider the economic opportunities and the benefits for communities along the route of a multiuse trail that stretches more than 3,700 miles between Washington, D.C., and Washington State.
It Began As A Dream
For more than 30 years, RTC has recognized the potential for a multiuse trail that connects the nation.
As railroads gave way to new forms of transportation in the mid-20th century, thousands of miles of rail lines were disused across the country—giving rise to the rail-trail movement and RTC’s formal establishment in 1986 to preserve these priceless corridors. The 1983 Railbanking Statute had helped lay a foundation for rail-trail development, and by 1989, an estimated 200 known rail-trails were on the ground in American communities.
As the movement took hold, RTC Co-Founder David Burwell dreamed of a trail that would connect the vast North American continent just as the railroads did—envisioning that rail-trails would one day be “America’s Main Street.”
Almost from its earliest beginnings, RTC would see the dream transform into possibility. Rail-trails—tracked on a large U.S. wall map at RTC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.—began to hint at a single route forming from east to west as the 1980s gave way to the early 1990s. Using pins to mark new and completed rail-trail projects, the staff watched as more and more pins were added and the skeleton of a cross-country rail-trail slowly, but surely, began to take shape. The seeds of the Great American Rail-Trail had been planted.
The prospect of completing such an ambitious project was exciting in its possibilities, but daunting at a time when RTC was still in its infancy. Realizing the coordination and resources needed for such a massive effort, RTC focused efforts on strengthening the organization and the national trail movement, including: advocating for new funding streams for trails and walking and biking infrastructure; supporting trail development nationwide; and increasing public support for rail-trails—drawing attention to the health, transportation, economic, environmental and social benefits they provide for their communities and the people who use them.
As RTC moved forward, aspirations of completing the iconic American route became an internal drumbeat for the organization for the next three decades.
“One day, you could go across this entire country … on flat, wide, off-road paths. I want rail-trails to be ‘America’s Main Street.'”
—David Burwell, RTC Co-Founder
Building A Movement—And A Vision
RTC continued to monitor the route’s progress toward 50% completion—the milestone identified as the threshold for committing to the project as a national organization.
In 1991, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) established two new federal programs for trails: Transportation Enhancements (known today as Transportation Alternatives) and the Recreational Trails Program. By October 1998, the United States reached 1,000 rail-trails, and that number continued to grow steadily as more communities demanded these vital assets.
Washington, D.C.—as our nation’s capital and the home of RTC’s national headquarters—had always been earmarked as the eastern terminus for a cross-country trail. A potential terminus in the West remained elusive, however, as RTC endeavored to find solutions for traversing the rugged mountains and vast open spaces without a density of multiuse trail connections.
As the eastern half of the United States was making rapid progress on trail development, the western half was challenged by multiple factors, including less density of railroads, a lower volume of rail line abandonments and lower population densities in communities along the corridors.
In 2007, with 15,000 miles of rail-trails on the ground in the United States, RTC commissioned a study of the old “Milwaukee Road” (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad), a legendary line connecting Chicago and Seattle that had fallen entirely into disuse by 1980. In 1982, Washington State purchased a portion of the corridor to create the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, which—at approximately 247 miles and growing—is now one of the longest rail-trails in the country.
Investments made by King County, Washington, and trail developers in the Seattle area would result in thriving trail networks just farther west of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, making the state a viable western terminus for a cross-country rail-trail.
Exploring New Possibilities
Just west of the Mississippi River, Iowa built momentum early, becoming the first state in the nation to take advantage of the national Railbanking Statute in the early-to mid-1980s. Nearby in Nebraska, rail-trails would also begin to pop up in increasing numbers.
Because much of the Milwaukee Road outside of Washington State had been lost to private landowners, RTC began to explore other potential routes in Montana and Idaho, eventually completing two comprehensive corridor assessments and related feasibility studies that helped identify new trail opportunities across both states.
By early 2016, RTC had amassed more than 160,000 members and supporters and helped secure federal funding streams that supported thousands of trail projects nationwide. With more than 22,000 miles of rail-trails on the ground—just three decades after David Burwell first dreamed of a multiuse trail across the country, and with renewed enthusiasm—RTC was poised and ready to commit to making the Great American Rail-Trail a reality.
Under the leadership of then-president Keith Laughlin, RTC embarked on a new exploratory effort to determine the feasibility of the route, as it had evolved since the late 1980s. In December 2016, three staff members traveled to Wyoming and Montana to explore options for a rail-trail route through the mountains. In 2017, preliminary geographic information system (GIS) analyses revealed multiple potential routes that were more than 50% complete for a cross-country route connecting Washington, D.C., and Washington State.
In February 2017, RTC began a formal route assessment across 12 states and the District of Columbia (detailed in the Methods section of this report), which included meeting with hundreds of state and local officials, as well as local trail managers, and collecting mapping data and information for over 130 trails. The outcomes of this study are outlined in the State-by-State Route Analysis in this report. It’s with pleasure that we invite you now to explore the preferred route of this iconic American trail in the making.
RTC revealed the preferred route of the Great American Rail-Trail in May 2019, celebrating the launch of this transformational project through a series of events with partner organizations across the country. RTC and our partners are tracking the march toward completion of the route by celebrating milestones large and small, including the completion of new trail segments, major maintenance efforts, new funding acquired and everything in between.
Great American Rail-Trail Route Assessment (2026)
The Great American Rail-Trail Route Assessment 2026 defined the preferred route of the Great American Rail- Trail as more than 3,700 miles—with 2,086 miles of existing trails and 1,674 miles of trail gaps.
Economic Potential of the Great American Rail-Trail Report (2022)
Investments could generate more than $229.4 million in visitor spending, $104 million in labor income, and $22.8 million in new tax revenue.
The time is now.
The possibility of a rail-trail that spans the country has been known since the mid-1980s. As RTC stood at the forefront of the trails movement that was emerging across the country, it tracked rail-trails being developed east to west along the same course charted by the railroad a century ago. Now, analysis of RTC’s database of open trails shows that the Great American Rail-Trail’s preferred route is more than 50 percent complete—the milestone RTC has long identified as the threshold for committing to make this trail a reality. With that milestone in hand, RTC has committed to bring its national expertise and resources to bear in connecting the people and the infrastructure necessary to deliver the Great American Rail-Trail to the country.
Shop Great American Rail-Trail Gear
Shop Great American Rail-Trail gear including a jersey, t-shirt, socks and gaiter to celebrate the trail connecting the country.
