Building Trails

The Great American Rail-Trail: Projects to Watch in 2020

Posted 05/08/20 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Encouraging Trail Use, Great American Rail-Trail, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, Washington

Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail | Photo by TrailLink user orangedoug

At the end of last year, RTC reported that nearly $13 million in funding has been secured for Great American segments, which will help close trail gaps and improve existing sections of trail along the 3,700-mile route between Washington, D.C., and Washington State. This year, nearly 100 miles of new trail along the route are expected to be completed. As a pre-kick-off to May, here’s a sneak peek at a handful of these exciting projects.

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Bicycle riders enjoying a new section of the Miners Ravine Trail in Roseville, California | Courtesy City of Roseville

As California ATP Cycle 5 Kicks Off—Here's a Snapshot of Some Success Stories

Posted 04/08/20 by Laura Cohen, Ben Kaufman, Mary Elise Conzelmann in Building Trails | Tagged with BATC, California, Connected Systems, Funding, RTC in Action, TrailNation

On March 26, California released a call for projects for the next round of the Active Transportation Program (ATP)—the state’s largest single source of funding for trails and walking and biking projects.

Recently completed Cohas section of the Londonderry Rail Trail | Courtesy Londonderry Trailways

New Hampshire’s Londonderry Rail Trail

Posted 04/06/20 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Connected Systems, Federal, Funding, Local Organizing, Maintenance and Volunteers, New Hampshire, RTC in Action, State and Federal Programs, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month

About a 45-mile drive northwest of Boston, the Londonderry Rail Trail in the quaint southern New Hampshire town of Londonderry offers locals a slice of tranquility in an otherwise upside-down world with a 4.5-mile jaunt through verdant forests and wildlife-rich wetlands and along scenic ponds.

Andrea Ferster | Photo by Eli Griffen

Rail-Trail Cases That Have Shaped the Movement

Posted 02/20/20 by Amy Kapp in Building Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Corridors and Railbanking, Featured Magazine Articles, Legal Issues, RTC in Action

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails System Act (1968), Rails to Trails magazine sat down with Ferster to talk about some of the cases that have shaped the movement—as well as the monumental importance of railbanking, which—born from the National Trails System Act in 1983—has helped facilitate the creation of thousands of miles of rail-trails to date.

Notice: Upcoming Railroad Abandonment in Allegany County, Maryland

Posted 02/12/20 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Building Trails | Tagged with Abandonment Notices, Corridors and Railbanking, Maryland

On or about Feb. 3, 2020, Eighteen Thirty Group LLC filed for the abandonment of 7.54 miles of track between Moscow and Borden Shaft in Allegany County, Maryland. We are providing this information because it presents an opportunity to develop a real regional asset: a multi-use trail that can accommodate hikers, bikers, equestrians and other appropriate uses.

Rock Island Spur of Katy Trail State Park in Missouri | Photo by TrailLink user chia57

RTC’s 2020 Doppelt Trail Fund Helps Fill Critical Funding, Gaps in Six Communities

Posted 02/03/20 by Mary Ellen Koontz in Building Trails | Tagged with Florida, Funding, Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rock Island, RTC in Action

Today, in anticipation of the 2020 spring trail season, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) announced the recipients of the 2020 Doppelt Family Trail Development Fund grant program, awarding a total of $100,000 to six impactful trail projects across the United States.

Connectivity Evolution: Examining a Decade of Rails-to-Trails’ Impact, 2010–2020

Posted 12/31/19 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails, Success Stories, Policy, Building Trails | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, BATC, Capital Trails Coalition, Caracara, Circuit Trails, Connected Systems, Demand for Trails, Great American Rail-Trail, History Happened Here, IHTC, Miami LOOP, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

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, and a new focus took hold at RTC and across the movement: that of regional connectivity and, ultimately, connecting the country by trail like never before. Check out RTC's connectivity evolution over the past decade.

Graphic by RTC, photo courtesy Missouri Rock Island Trail Inc.

The Rock Island Trail Is a 144-Mile Would Be Game-Changer for Missouri

Posted 12/17/19 by Cindy Barks in Taking Action, Building Trails | Tagged with Corridors and Railbanking, Missouri, Rock Island, RTC in Action, Tourism and Economic Development, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations

All along a 144-mile stretch of Missouri’s old Rock Island Line, rural communities formerly known as railroad towns have been looking forward to a new possibility: a multiuse trail that would revitalize the long-unused train tracks.

Historic Virginia and Truckee Trail | Photo by Jenny Anderson Haas, courtesy Muscle Powered

Historic Virginia and Truckee Trail to Rejuvenate Famous Nevada Rail Corridor

Posted 12/05/19 by Donna Inversin in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Connected Systems, Funding, Heritage and Restoration, History Happened Here, Nevada, Rail-with-Trail, State and Federal Programs, Trail Communities

The rail corridor’s new life as the Historic Virginia and Truckee Trail will connect five counties, five cities and six museums. Portions of the trail have already been constructed; Carson City, the state capital, has several miles of the V&T on the ground. And bicyclists ride along much of the old route, without even realizing it, through Washoe and Pleasant Valleys in Washoe County.

North Bend Trail into Cairo, West Virginia | Photo by Mike Tewkesbury

West Virginia and Pennsylvania's Parkersburg to Pittsburgh Corridor

Posted 12/05/19 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Featured Magazine Articles, Pennsylvania, West Virginia

The P2P: It’s a small acronym that holds a world of promise. Extending from Parkersburg to Pittsburgh (P2P), the developing 238.5-mile route connecting northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania by trail would be a game changer for the dozens of small, rural Appalachian towns that have seen the Cinderella story of the highly successful Great Allegheny Passage so close at hand.

Bicyclists gathered outside of the Richmond BART Station on Nov. 16, 2019, to ride together to the opening of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike and pedestrian path | Photo courtesy Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

New Transbay Crossing: Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Bike and Pedestrian Path Opens in California

Posted 11/18/19 by Ben Kaufman, Mary Elise Conzelmann in Building Trails | Tagged with BATC, Bike Commuting, Biking, California, Connected Systems, TrailNation, Transportation and Health, Walkability and Bikeability

On Nov. 16, 2019, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path—a new 6-mile trail that parallels I-580 in the San Francisco Bay Area, officially opened to the public in a special ribbon cutting ceremony. The opening of the new pathway—a fully protected east–west pedestrian and bicycle connection across the Bay—signifies an exciting time in California trail history, as people can now safely walk and bike between the North and East Bay for the first time.