At Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we know that trails and other active transportation infrastructure will play a critical role in putting Americans to work while contributing to healthy, safe and equitable communities.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, trail use has surged nationwide and people are building walking and biking into their daily lives like never before. The pandemic has tested our communities and proven the incredible value that trails and active transportation infrastructure provide.

As more Americans rely on trails, walking and biking for essential trips, and communities turn to active transportation as an economic strategy, the nation’s federal policies must reflect these changes and the opportunities they represent while providing for the safety of all Americans as they walk, bike and move. At this moment of transition in the federal government, it is time for a transformational investment in connected active transportation infrastructure to sustain and grow the boom in bicycling, walking, and trail use; create good jobs; and meet mobility needs of underserved communities and historically disinvested populations.

We have a strategic opportunity to work with federal policymakers to put Americans to work building the strategic connections that enable healthy and resource-saving habits.

Key elements of the Federal Agenda for Active Transportation follow, with an emphasis on strategic investments in programs that prioritize the connectivity of trails, walking and biking, which has the potential to generate an estimated $138 billion per year in economic benefit to the nation:

• Prioritize investments that link existing trails, bikeways and sidewalks into functional networks that connect people to key destinations and communities to each other, with special attention to the needs of underserved communities. Competitive federal active transportation connectivity grants are essential to enable communities to establish low-stress routes to walk and bike.    
• Through reauthorization of the FAST Act, double dedicated project funding for trails, walking and biking through Transportation Alternatives and the Recreational Trails Program to ensure resources are available in every city and state to meet growing demand for safe places to walk, bike and move. 
• Establish an Active Transportation Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). 
• Pilot strategies to make transportation planning practices equitable and responsive to neighborhood priorities and revive the USDOT initiative to promote equitable outcomes.  
• Prioritize and incentivize active transportation as a critical strategy in cutting carbon emissions from transportation.  
• Develop regulations governing the use of electric bicycles on public lands that are consistent across federal agencies and responsive to the needs of local land managers and the public.

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The Opportunity for Visionary Change

America’s transportation policy has long prioritized the ability to move the maximum number of cars efficiently rather than the greatest number of people safely. While the automobile has been the dominant mode of transportation for the past 70 years, the majority of trips taken in this country are within a 20-minute bike ride or less, and more than one in four trips are within a 20-minute walk or less. To encourage more people to walk or bike and to maximize the benefits of active transportation, we need walking and biking infrastructure that connects to where people want to go and is safe, convenient and comfortable.

As federal policymakers transition in 2021, Congress and the White House will define the next major federal transportation bill, which will guide transportation spending—including funding for trails, walking and biking—for years to come. States and local communities are seeking strategic ways to invest public funds so that they deliver myriad transportation, health, equity, environmental and economic outcomes, especially as COVID-19 has strained local economies and existing trail and active transportation infrastructure. There are more than 40,000 miles of multiuse trails on the ground nationwide, ready to form seamless networks that connect people and places.

The federal law—the FAST Act—currently governing funding of America’s surface transportation programs, including the part covering trails, and other pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, was extended in 2020 and is set to be reauthorized in 2021. Now is the time for Congress to take bold steps to transform America with safe, connected trail and active transportation networks.

Now Is the Time

Across America, demand for trails, walking and biking continues to grow. Trail and active transportation networks are emerging, and communities are seeking to maximize the benefits that this type of connectivity can bring.

RTC’s newest research proves that this work is changing our communities—urban, suburban and rural—for the better. As the connectivity of trail networks improves, so does the health of people and places. One example can be seen in the current economic return on investment, with combined health, climate and economic benefits currently delivering more than $34.1 billion annually. A return that can be doubled, and even quadrupled, as connectivity spreads to more places in America.

The evidence is on our side. Investing public funds in trail and active transportation projects delivers powerful outcomes, which are multiplied as the connectivity of the infrastructure improves. Active transportation is already transforming America. Its benefits are far-reaching and bring powerful outcomes to every type of community. RTC’s newest study, “Active Transportation Transforms America,” is the nation’s most comprehensive analysis of the quantifiable impact of trails, walking and biking on the places we live. Use it to help you make the case for public investment in trails and active transportation.

With more than 40,000 miles of multiuse trails on the ground, now is the time to demand transformative change by targeting investments that weave together existing trails and other active transportation infrastructure into networks that connect within communities, and spines that connect between states—just as our road and rail systems are designed.

Featured Priority Projects

Focused investment in connecting trail and active transportation networks—closing key infrastructure gaps within communities and across state lines—has the potential to unlock billions of dollars for the U.S. economy annually. Explore this collection of projects that are waiting on the public funds needed to unlock enormous benefits.

As Congress and federal policymakers plan for the country’s economic recovery from COVID-19 and turn their attention to reauthorize the nation’s federal transportation bill, these projects are examples of compelling opportunities for trail and active transportation networks to play a critical role in getting people back to work while contributing to healthy, safe and equitable communities.

In the Headlines

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State of Public Funding for Trails and Active Transportation

Over the past several decades, over $20 billion in federal funds have been invested in trails and walking and biking projects nationwide, providing the financial foundation to build the nation’s trails, even though it represents only a sliver of the country’s overall spending on surface transportation. The lion’s share of those funds have come from the Transportation Alternative’s Program (previously Transportation Enhancements), the nation’s largest source of funding for trails and active transportation. Since the program’s inception, RTC has tracked spending through an annual Transportation Alternatives Spending Report, which outlines program investments in each state. This ongoing accounting of program implementation is an important tool in efforts to strengthen the program, improving the efficiency and efficacy of the investments made.