Design Strategies

Two Plans Converge to Connect Baltimore’s Green Space

Posted 03/22/18 by Avery Harmon, Jim Brown in America's Trails | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, Connected Systems, Design Strategies, Disparities and Underserved Communities, Ecology and Environment, Health and Active Living, Heritage and Restoration, Local Organizing, Maryland, Trail Communities, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Urban Pathways, Walkability and Bikeability

South Baltimore community leaders and RTC staff walk the Gwynns Falls Trail while discussing how the trail is supporting community needs by providing access to open space and nearby public transit. | Photo by Avery Harmon

On March 14, Baltimore publicly launched its Green Network Plan—a citywide initiative to redevelop vacant land—and connect natural areas and community corridors—through a series of greening projects, including recreation areas, trails and urban gardens. As Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) continues to work with Baltimore’s leaders and citizens to create a 35-mile trail network in the city, we are honored to have been included in this historic plan—an important step toward realizing our shared vision of a more connected and vibrant city.

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RTC's Amy Kapp interviews Jeff Risom from Gehl at 2018 SXSW

Jeff Risom: Creating "Platforms for Yes" to Spur Mobility in Cities of the Future

Posted 03/16/18 by Amy Kapp in America's Trails | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Design Strategies, Disparities and Underserved Communities, Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, Mapping and Technology, Mode Shift, SXSW, Trail Communities, Urban Pathways, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Rails to Trails was at the SXSW Cities Summit this week, exploring the role of trails in the cities of the future. I sat down with Jeff Risom, partner and managing director U.S. of Gehl—a cutting-edge, international design firm that focuses on the intersection of quality of life and the built environment. Jeff talked about innovative solutions to making cities more equitable with regard to mobility and transportation. Here’s what he had to say—thanks Jeff!

Brandi Horton interviews Karina Ricks at SXSW 2018 | Courtesy RTC

Live from SXSW With Karina Ricks on the Future of Mobility—and the Role of Trails for Communities

Posted 03/14/18 by Brandi Horton in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Bike Commuting, Community Events, Connected Systems, Demand for Trails, Design Strategies, Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, IHTC, Mode Shift, Pennsylvania, SXSW, Trail Communities, TrailNation, TrailsTransform, Transportation and Health, Urban Pathways, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Rails to Trails is at the SXSW Cities Summit this week, exploring the role of trails in the cities of the future. I caught up with Karina Ricks, director of the City of Pittsburgh’s Office of Mobility and Infrastructure. We talked about the city’s mobility needs and world-class trails—and the intersection of opportunity and infrastructure in a city that’s at the forefront of the future of mobility.

The Ronald Kirk pedestrian bridge (left) and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity Skyline Trail, Dallas, Texas

New Year—New Visions: The Age of Connectivity

Posted 12/22/17 by Keith Laughlin in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Connected Systems, Design Strategies, Encouraging Trail Use, Featured Magazine Articles, History Happened Here, Mapping and Technology, Trail Communities, TrailNation, Transportation and Health, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

A new era is upon us—one we’re calling the Age of Connectivity, both for its genesis in technology and its potential to reconnect people and places. This is a time when trails—our communities’ greatest connectors—will work hand in hand with innovation.

View of Simon Kenton Trail bridge from Buck Creek Trail | Photo by Louis Agresta

Ohio’s Simon Kenton Trail

Posted 10/13/17 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Best Of, Connected Systems, Design Strategies, IHTC, Local Organizing, Ohio, Rail-with-Trail, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Trail Use Tips

Western Ohio’s Simon Kenton Trail, named for a 17th-century frontiersman (and friend of Daniel Boone), offers the perfect opportunity for today’s travelers to do their own exploring of the state’s scenic woodlands and rural landscapes on a 35-mile adventure stretching from Springfield to Bellefontaine. For an even more epic experience, the trail is seamlessly integrated into the expansive Miami Valley trails network, which offers 340 miles of paved trails coalescing in and around the Dayton metro area.

Milwaukee Skyline | Photo courtesy iStock by Getty Images

A Plan for the Route of the Badger to Reconnect Milwaukee

Posted 08/28/17 by Willie Karidis in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Case Studies, Design Strategies, Disparities and Underserved Communities, Facts and FIgures, Walkability and Bikeability, Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin has more than 340 miles of world-class trails and the potential for incredible low-stress bicycling routes, but the honest assessment of access to many of those trails is a story of inequality.

Photo by Shane Farthing

Converting Unsustainable Roadway to Urban Trail Brings Major Environmental Benefits to D.C. Community

Posted 06/29/17 by Shane Farthing in Building Trails, Trail Use, Success Stories | Tagged with Repairs and Trail Safety, Design Strategies, District Of Columbia, Ecology and Environment, Success Stories

Recent developments with the Klingle corridor show how sustainably designed trail systems can work to solve transportation and environmental issues while benefiting the environment and surrounding community.

Photo © Streetsblog USA

An Engineering Wonder, a Bike Commuter’s Dream: The Cal Park Hill Tunnel

Posted 08/12/14 by Katie Harris in Building Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with California, Connected Systems, Design Strategies, Products of Good Policy, State and Federal Programs

Christina Toms’ commute is the definition of multi-modal. From her front door in Fairfax, Calif., she hops on her bike and cruises down to the Larkspur ferry terminal. From there, she catches the ferry that brings her across the bay to the city of San Francisco. That commute is possible in large part to the Cal Park Hill Tunnel, an engineering triumph that makes the vital connection between San Rafael and Larkspur in Marin County, Calif.

Trail rendering courtesy Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates

EYE ON: Illinois' Bloomingdale Trail

Posted 10/09/13 by Laura Stark in | Tagged with Design Strategies, Featured Magazine Articles, Illinois, Local Organizing, Urban Pathways

At nearly 20 feet above four northwestern Chicago neighborhoods, the Bloomingdale Trail (a.k.a. The 606) will be a park in the sky. It's a lofty project to be created from an elevated rail line that once was referred to as "an overgrown linear jungle." Plans for the rail-trail include a dramatic facelift, featuring art plazas, entertainment venues, flowering trees, winding nature walks off the main trail, an astronomy observatory, and benches where trail users can rest and enjoy the views.

Pretty in Pink: Connecticut's Shoreline Greenway Trail

Posted 02/25/13 by Laura Stark in Building Trails | Tagged with Connecticut, Design Strategies, Local Organizing

Like the fabled road to Oz, Connecticut's Shoreline Greenway Trail, will have an unusual and distinctive color: pink. The source of that delicate hue, crushed granite from the local Stony Creek quarry, was once used for the base of the Statue of Liberty, fitting given that each of the four towns that the trail traverses—East Haven, Branford, Guilford and Madison—have representatives in the trail's governing body in a system that was designed to be both democratic and inclusive from the outset.