Last year, Americans spent $81 billion on bicycling gear and trips, a sizable chunk of the total outdoor recreation industry which accounts for $646 billion in spending each year.
In St. Clair County, Ill., on the outskirts of St. Louis, Mo., the county transit district continues to extend its heralded MetroBikeLink Trail, a paved, multi-use trail that provides a fast and efficient connection from local neighborhoods to the metro stations.
In addition to his work running an Earn-a-Bike program in the Osborn neighborhood (funded by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's Metropolitan Grants Program - a partnership with The Coca Cola Foundation), Scott has been busy using Google's open source platform to make a comprehensive map of bike friendly routes across Detroit.
The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) this month released an economic study that found that outdoor recreation is one of America's fastest growing industries and a major job generator in both the manufacture and sale of equipment, but also in the American communities served by recreation amenities.
Detroit knows what time it is. We love this great story at Mode Shift (right) about the Earn-a-Bike program Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) is funding in Detroit's Osborn community.
The times are a'changing in Texas. In centers like Denton, San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Fort Worth, planners are recognizing the importance of bike (and pedestrian) infrastructure, and as a result, ridership and bike-inspired initiatives are on the up.
When Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) launched our trail-finder website, TrailLink.com, way back in 2000, its uniqueness was based on a simple premise: Combine our own extensive trail experience with the input, reviews and photos of thousands of trail users around the country-and with all external submissions vetted by RTC's own expert staff. The result was a free trail-finder service unmatched in terms of coverage but also accuracy.
This weekend, the local newspaper for Terre Haute, Indiana, ran a terrific article examining the popularity of existing rail-trails and the potential to develop more underused rail corridors into public walking and biking pathways to solve a number of pressing transportation and connectivity issues.
For people who live in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail is a part of everyday life. Later this year, the W&OD will be the guest of honor at the second annual Dominion Trail Mix, a great community party hosted by the good folks at the Greater Washington Sports Alliance.
The report, Transportation and the New Generation: Why Young People are Driving Less and What it Means for Transportation Policy, shows that young people in particular are decreasing the amount they drive and increasing their use of transportation alternatives.
