Facts and FIgures Page 3

Tracking Federal Bike/Ped Spending in 2015: RTC Releases TrADE Report

Posted 07/26/16 by Leeann Sinpatanasakul in Building Trails, Policy | Tagged with Facts and FIgures, Federal, Funding, State and Federal Programs, Transportation and Health

Sacramento River Trail | Photo courtesy Sergio Ruiz | CC by 2.0

The Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP)—known as Transportation Enhancements (TE) until 2012—is the largest federal source of funding for walking and biking projects and has helped to build thousands of trails across America since 1991. Here's the latest spending report on this critical program for the rail-trail movement.

Full Story
Ed Rasbach of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and his two dogs, on the Merchantville Bike Path | Photo by Laura Pedrick/AP Images

How Did 9,000 Trail Users Impact Northeast Communities? We Found Out.

Posted 05/12/16 by Liz Sewell in Trail Use, Success Stories | Tagged with Facts and FIgures, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development

Over the past 10 years, RTC has implemented 20-plus rail-trail surveys in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to determine just how much of an impact trail users have had on the region. These infographics, which are aggregates of data from more than 9,000 surveys, convey the power of local northeast pathways on tourism, health and physical activity.

Photo © Ed Yourdon

RTC Launches Development of Game-Changing Trail Planning Tool

Posted 06/12/14 by Tracy Hadden Loh in Building Trails | Tagged with Case Studies, Connected Systems, Facts and FIgures, Mapping and Technology, RTC in Action

Earlier this month, RTC announced the launch of T-MAP (Trail Modeling and Assessment Platform), a three-year, $1.2-million initiative with the potential to set a new standard for trail planning in America. In partnership with researchers and trail managers in 12 U.S. cities, RTC will lead the first-ever nationwide survey of urban trail use and produce planning models and metrics that can forecast the returns on investment that trails stimulate around the country.

Photos © Rick Pruetz

The Profitable Tail of the Silver Comet Trail

Posted 05/07/14 by Rick Pruetz in America's Trails, Trail Use, Success Stories | Tagged with Case Studies, Facts and FIgures, Georgia, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses

A 2013 study by the Northwest Georgia Regional Planning Commission recommends more than doubling the length of the Silver Comet Trail —at its “tail” end—with spurs to nearby commercial centers and longer extensions to Marietta, Rome and Atlanta’s growing bike-path network.

Photo © Pedestrian and Bicycling Information Center

New Fatality Data Shows Transportation Spending Doesn't Match Transportation Reality

Posted 11/25/13 by Kevin Mills in Policy | Tagged with Case Studies, Facts and FIgures, Federal, Funding

The release of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) annual report on traffic fatalities made the news last week for one significant reason: for the first time since 2005 the number of people killed on U.S. roads increased - up 3.3 percent from 2011.

Photo © Trails for Illinois

How To Sell 200,000 Ice-Cream Cones: In Illinois, Hard Data Makes the Case for Trail Building

Posted 10/10/13 by Eric Oberg in Building Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Case Studies, Facts and FIgures, Illinois, Tourism and Economic Stimulus

The publication of "Making Trails Count" - a count and study of trail user numbers and spending patterns on six trails across Illinois - is now arming trail planners and advocates state wide with the hard data they need to make the case for why trail building means good things for communities and economies.

Cover image © Island Press

New Books Dig Into America's Most Pressing Questions

Posted 07/22/13 by Jake Lynch in Policy | Tagged with Case Studies, Facts and FIgures

The convergence of a number of modern crises - the unsustainability of current oil consumption levels, the poor health of the American population, the impacts of pollution and the decimation of local main streets - has sparked great interest of late in designing transportation and living systems that might work better than those America is currently laboring under.