Since the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, trail and active transportation advocates have celebrated the opportunity this unprecedented funding creates for trails, walking and biking. All types of places, from small towns to cities and entire regions, are tapping funding in new ways to accelerate local and regional trail priorities.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) sees this moment as the chance to transform funding for trails and active transportation for the long-term. Increased funding and policy changes of the past several years present an urgent and unprecedented challenge to ensure that this funding is leveraged to prioritize and make routine local, state and federal investment in equitable trail and active transportation networks—essential infrastructure for addressing some of the most pressing issues communities face like safety, mobility, economic development and climate change.
Join RTC and partners from across the country about what it will take—and what’s already working—to transform the funding models in ways that are sustainable and prioritize trail and active transportation networks.
PANELISTS
- Lena Castens, Atlanta Beltline Inc.
- Sarah Clark Stuart, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
- Liz Thorstensen, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
- Kevin Mills, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
- Brandi Horton, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
RELATED LINKS
- Read RTC’s status report on the first 18 months of the BIL: https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/2023/june/23/18-months-in-whats-the-impact-of-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-for-trails-walking-and-biking/
- Find RTC’s funding resources here: https://www.railstotrails.org/policy/funding/
- Learn more about Transportation Alternatives funding: https://www.railstotrails.org/policy/funding/transportation-alternatives/
- Curious how your states TA dollars have been used? Check out TRADE: https://www.railstotrails.org/policy/trade/
- View RTC's analysis of 2023 RAISE grant awards: https://www.railstotrails.org/resource-library/resources/fy-23-raise-grants/
- See summaries of the RAISE grant awarded projects: https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2023-06/RAISE%202023%20Fact%20Sheets_0.pdf
- What is the Thriving Communities Program? Learn more here: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/thriving-communities
- Atlanta BeltLine: https://beltline.org/
- Circuit Trails: https://circuittrails.org/
- Moving the Circuit report 2023: https://circuittrails.org/wp-content/uploads/The_Circuit_Trails-Moving_the_Circuit_Forward_4thEdition-April2023.pdf)
- Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program: https://rtc.li/rcngrants
