Success Stories

Rep. Carey Hamilton on the Nickel Plate Trail in Indiana in 2022 | Photo courtesy Rep. Carey Hamilton

Indiana State Rep. Carey Hamilton Named 2022 Rail-Trail Champion

Posted 09/12/22 by Cory Matteson in America's Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Champions, Great American Rail-Trail, Indiana, Local Organizing, Rail-Trail Champion

RTC is pleased to announce Indiana State Rep. Carey Hamilton as the 2022 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champion for her leadership in founding the Indiana Legislative Trails Caucus, a bipartisan group of state legislators committed to building out the state’s trail network.

Richmond Greenway | Courtesy RTC

A Look Ahead for the Trails Movement in 2022 and Beyond

Posted 12/21/21 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, BATC, Equity, Federal, Funding, Great American Rail-Trail, Recreational Trails Program, Route of the Badger, Trail Moments, TrailNation, Transportation Alternatives

The challenges of the past couple years have shown us that our work remains more important than ever. As we look ahead, we see opportunity and potential in the work and in the inspiration provided by the partners, friends and advocates with whom we share our collective vision.

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

Breaking News: The Rock Island Trail Is a 144-Mile On track to Be Game-Changer for Missouri

Posted 12/14/21 by Cindy Barks in Taking Action, Building Trails, Success Stories, America's Trails | Tagged with Corridors and Railbanking, Missouri, Rock Island, RTC in Action, Tourism and Economic Development, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations

Governor Mike Parson and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources announced that they have officially railbanked the 144-mile Rock Island Railroad corridor between Windsor and Beaufort, Missouri. The governor’s announcement comes after decades of advocacy and negotiations, marking the final step in railbanking the corridor, which is now destined to be preserved—and enjoyed—as a trail.

White River State Trail, part of the Route of the Badger trail network | Photo by TrailLink user lkgatu

Here Are Six Reasons Rails-to-Trails Is Celebrating This Year

Posted 12/10/21 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Best Of, Funding, Great American Rail-Trail, Indiana, Trail Moments, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Transportation Alternatives, Wisconsin

A year of positive momentum. That’s how we'd describe 2021, which—despite many challenges and much uncertainty—still came with so much hope and progress for trails and those who made them happen.

Vermilion River Regional Greenway in Minnesota | Photo by TrailLink user travistschepen

Tom Petri Awards Honor 13 Outstanding Trail Projects and Programs in 2021

Posted 11/11/21 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Policy, Success Stories | Tagged with Champions, Federal, Funding, Maintenance and Volunteers, Motorized Use, Recreational Trails Program, State and Federal Programs, Success Stories, Transportation Alternatives

This week, the Coalition for Recreational Trails (CRT) honored this year’s recipients of the Tom Petri Recreational Trails Program Annual Achievement Awards, including twelve projects and a state recreational trails program. The awards—honoring former U.S. Representative Tom Petri (WI)—specifically recognize outstanding use of Recreational Trails Program (RTP) funds, which have historically supported states in developing and maintaining recreational trails and trail-related facilities around the country.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton delivering her keynote remarks at the May 8, 2019, launch of the Great American Rail-Trail in Washington, D.C. | Courtesy RTC

Rail-Trail Champion Eleanor Holmes Norton on Linking the Nation by Trail

Posted 01/28/21 by Brandi Horton, Cory Matteson in Success Stories, Policy | Tagged with Capital Trails Coalition, Champions, Rail-Trail Champion

For her long-standing efforts to support trail networks in her native Washington, D.C., and across the United States, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has named Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) America’s 2020 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champion.

Photo by India Kea

Looking Back, With Gratitude, on a Year of Challenges and Triumphs for Trails

Posted 12/23/20 by Amy Kapp, Paola Tejada Lalinde in America's Trails, Success Stories, Policy, Building Trails | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, BATC, Best Of, Capital Trails Coalition, Caracara, COVID-19, Federal, Funding, Great American Rail-Trail, IHTC, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, Trail Moments, TrailNation, Why Use Trails?

As 2020 draws to a close—a year of extreme changes and challenges—it is with incredible appreciation that we reflect on the collective impact of our movement across the country.

Flint Hills Trail State Park | Courtesy Kansas Tourism

Tapping into Federal Funding: Five Trail Tales of Success

Posted 05/28/20 by Laura Stark in Policy, Success Stories | Tagged with Federal, Funding, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, TrailsTransform, Transportation Alternatives

We explore a handful of rail-trails that have been supported by essential Transportation Alternatives funds, and the impact they’ve had on local communities and the nation. Many of these trails are part of larger, connected networks of trails and active transportation infrastructure that provide both critical recreational opportunities and much-needed transportation options to daily destinations or transit. Others connect communities and help promote tourism or travel between towns.

Mineral Belt Trail | Photo by Scott Stark

Four Rail-Trails That Are Part of Transformative Environmental Clean-up Projects

Posted 04/21/20 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Colorado, Ecology and Environment, Featured Magazine Articles, Heritage and Restoration, IHTC, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, TrailNation, West Virginia

In honor of Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary this year, Rails to Trails magazine is highlighting four rail-trails that have had a transformative Cinderella story, going from industrial dumping grounds to beloved community assets.

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.

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, Recreational Trails Program, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Transportation Alternatives, 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.

Great American Rail-Trail preferred route reveal in South Cle Elum, Washington | Photo by Kathy Young

Seven Ways Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Brought Big Impact in 2019

Posted 12/05/19 by Amy Kapp in Success Stories, America's Trails | Tagged with BATC, Circuit Trails, Great American Rail-Trail, IHTC, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Recreational Trails Program, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Transportation Alternatives

This year, America and the rail-trail movement saw giant leaps, and small-but-no-less-important bounds, that have helped to achieve RTC’s goal of connecting the country by trail like never before. From major advancements like the launch of the 3,700-mile Great American Rail-Trail, to critical regional and local successes that have delivered new opportunities for mobility, active transportation and economic investment, the impact is being felt in communities of all shapes and sizes across the United States.