The developing Industrial Heartland Trails Network is a collection of nearly three dozen pathways featuring scenic wilderness, dramatic railroad tunnels and trestles, welcoming trail towns and historical sites from the birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has conducted surveys along trails in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for over 10 years. This infographic shows the aggregate responses for rural trails from surveys conducted from 2006 to 2016.

Pennsylvania passed a transportation funding bill in 2013, increasing transportation revenue by $2.3 billion per year. The funding goes toward state and local roads and bridges, public transportation, and active transportation. The bill sets a minimum of $2 million to be spent on bicycle and pedestrian facilities annually and creates a $144 million fund that can be […]

One of the largest completed sections of that developing network is a pair of connected rail-trails—the Heritage Rail Trail County Park and the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail—a 44-mile expanse.

With a length of 55 miles, there’s a lot to love on western Pennsylvania’s Montour Trail. Our top five attractions for this rail-trail located just outside of Pittsburgh are included below.

The Montour Trail—which forms a 55-mile arc around western Pittsburgh—is a standout with plenty of “wow” moments.

The 24-mile Three Rivers Heritage Trail extends along the banks of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers in one of America’s most storied cities, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The trail has been developed by Friends of the Riverfront, which has worked for more than 24 years to turn a riparian brownfield into a world class trail network. […]

The Switchback Gravity Railroad, built in 1827, was only the second railroad built in America. It relied on gravity, with mules.

In 2013, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) conducted a study of six connected trails (the Trails) that make up the central leg of the developing 270-mile Erie to Pittsburgh Trail (EPT) and are located in northwest Pennsylvania. The Trails are connected by geography, history and marketing. Owned, operated and maintained by several trail organizations and municipalities, the […]

This report focuses on reported dollars spent from trail user surveys completed on seven rail-trails in Pennsylvania using the same methodology. In addition, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy reviewed seven trail user surveys completed on comparable rail-trails in the northeast United States. Unlike public opinion polls, a trail user survey seeks specific information from the people actually on the trails. A number of trail […]