Design Strategies Page 2

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, Equity, 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.

RTC Study of California DOT Reveals Need to Improve Bike/Ped Culture

Posted 09/27/12 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Building Trails, Policy | Tagged with California, Design Strategies, State and Federal Programs

How prepared are the planners, designers, engineers and work crews of our state departments of transportation to deliver this active transportation infrastructure? Aware of the critical role of these staff in facilitating walking and biking, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) recently led a study of the California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans) bicycle- and pedestrian-related technical training for its staff.

Photo of Dupont Underground trolley tunnel © Mika Altskan

Subterranean Dreams: Exploring a New Frontier in Rail-Trails

Posted 03/06/12 by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Building Trails | Tagged with Design Strategies, District Of Columbia, New York, Pennsylvania, Urban Pathways

In a number of big cities across America, several underground transit stations--the long-dormant enclaves of intrepid urban explorers--are being reimagined as creative gathering places, retail hubs, galleries and performance venues. These projects represent some of the most innovative rail-trail plans we have seen in many years.

Dream of Olympic Discovery Trail on the Line for Volunteers

Posted 03/05/12 by Jake Lynch in Building Trails | Tagged with Design Strategies, Ecology and Environment, Local Organizing, Washington

Few doubt the tremendous potential of the Olympic Discovery Trail, a plan to construct a continuous recreational trail from Port Townsend on the northeast tip of the peninsula across to the Pacific Ocean. Already, local businesses are benefitting from the many visitors completed sections of the trail bring to the area. Last year, President Obama heralded the trail project during the launch of the America's Great Outdoors initiative to connect Americans with the nation's natural heritage.